Troubled Times
by SylphWindDancer
Summary: All the ToS and Aurions are trapped on Earth because of one certain Eternal Swordsman. Origin has no Mana left, and can't take them back to Symphonia. The tree that triggered it all may be more than they thought. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Me: HELLO! I'm glad you decided to read this story! It is the sequal to the sequal: Frozen Time with Lost Memories. 'K? Now...my muse will be...who?...I actually haven't decided.**

**Nari: Whatcha doin'?**

**Me: Nari! You'd be perfect!**

**Nari: For what?**

**Me: Being my muse!**

**Nari: WHAT? Okay, fine, I guess I'll be a good sport.**

**Me: (Returns her special whip.) (You'll find out why I did that later, okay?)**

**Nari: SylphWindDancer owns nothing. Only Scarlett Aurion, Celeste Aurion, Rylan, Renne, and Athena Aurion, Noishe's human form, not Noishe per se, Zeki Aurion, Sabrina, Theron, Hazel, Mahala, Myrtle, and sadly enough...me and this story.**

**Me: For those of oyu who don't remember, I didn't steal NAri from my sister's story, The Order of the Elements. I created her, therefore, I am allowed to use her!**

**Nari: What did I do, Goddess? Just send me a sign.**

**Me: Hope you like this story! .**

**Tales of Symphonia: Troubled Times**

Chapter 1: Back...

"I'm soooo bored!" whined a certain red head swordsman.

"Well, find a way to entertain yourself!" snapped the ninja sitting beside him.

"Sheena, maybe you can entertain me!" Zelos winked.

_SMACK!_

"Owww..."

"Zelos, you're such an idiot." retorted Genis, playing with a deck of cards.

"I heard that, you little twerp!"

Well, it WAS peaceful back on Earth until a mishap happened. Lloyd, our Eternal Swordsman had transported the large group to Earth instead of Derris-Kharlan. And it wasn't only his group - it was about fourty five more survivors that had managed to survive the horrid Theron's grasp of death. Lloyd was still hitting himself on the head for mistaking it, because they were now trapped there after Origin mysteriously vanished after the transporting.

Nari, on the back of Starlitt - Yuka's mare - rode up, bareback, "C'mon, Zelos. Just because you're bored doesn't mean you have to torture everyone else. There's plenty to do around here! They have their own breeding grounds filled with animals! -It's rather impressive."

"I'm glad you think so." smiled a woman named Sabrina, who was Yuka's adoptive mother.

"I'm glad that you're glad because I truly am impressed." Nari nodded, smirking.

Yuka came running out of the house, ran up the large, steep hill, flying (Literally) past Zelos, Sheena, Nari, Genis, and Sabrina up by the same apple tree that had triggered their quest. A certain silver head Sage was charging after her, "I must see how this 'cell phone' works!!!!" Raine cried.

Yuka ignored her, still talking on the silver flip phone, repeating on the phone to her friend, "No, it's not a party, it's a mistake! ...Well, tell him you don't want to. ...No, it's not that hard!"

"YUKA! PLLLEEEASSSSEEE!"

"Uhh...can I call you back? 'K. See ya later. Huh? Xylon? ...He's...not here anymore...yes, he is...no, I can't tell you how...alright...yeah, just tell Zach I said 'hey'...okay...alright, bye." Yuka flipped her phone down, ending the conversation. She landed on the roof of their large barn, taunting Raine because she couldn't reach her.

"Just five minutes!"

"NO!"

"PLEASE?"

"_NO!"_

"We're back!" chirped the ex-chosen from Sylvarant.

"I like the woods." commented Lloyd, "There's no screaming Zelos."

"Hey!" Zelos made a puppy face.

Kratos rubbed his head, already annoyed at returning so soon, and having to hear this racket. You'd think kids these days would quiet down after four thousand years...right?

Wrong.

Anna stomped over to Zelos, slapped him in the head, making him whine and wipe the look off his face.

Two girls approached the group, telling their mother that the survivors were now hidden in the woods in treehouses. One girl, obviously the oldest, with brown hair and green eyes looked at her mother, up at Yuka on the rooftop, and back at her mother, sighing as her younger sister explained everything before her, then she ran over and glomped Zelos, "I love Zelos!" (My sister really is a Zelos fan. But this isn't what they really look like) She had long brown hair and brown eyes.

"Gah! Can't breath!" Zelos gasped.

"Hey!" Sheena fumed, "He's taken!"

The girl backed off, "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

Sabrina sighed, "Oh, stop that, Hazel." and she turned to the older sister, "Myrtle, where's Mahala?"

"Still swinging from tree to tree." Myrtle blinked, "She likes the treehouses a little TOO much. I think she needs to take a chill-"

"I'm BAACCKKK!" rang a voice.

"Dang. She's back." Hazel frowned, snapping her fingers.

A girl with REALLY LONG brown hair and hazel eyes approached, followed by Luke, Irene, and their other dog - a syberuan husky named Crescent - coming out of the forest.

"Who's she?" asked Celeste, petting the horses along with her son, "I knew you had two 'big sisters,' but you never told me you had a 'younger sister.'"

"Yeah, she's always in the forest, working on stuff, and building stuff. That's my 'little sister', Mahala." Yuka informed.

"Nice ta meet ya." Mahala grinned sweetly.

"She looks like an angel, but she's really a devil." murmured Hazel.

"I heard that, ya know." Mahala glared.

Nari sighed, and ignored them, and turned her attention to a pair of twins and their sister, "You guys wanna ride with me? I'm gonna ride around."

The youngest, Athena, cheered, "Yeah! I want to!"

Rylan and Renne grinned, "Why not?"

"I'll stay." Zeki grunted.

Then, the three looked at their mother and father first, "Can we?"

Scarlett and Yuan raised an eyebrow, saying, "I don't see why not."

"Yah!" Renne smiled.

"Chirp, chirp, cchhhhrrriiiippp!"

"Lloyd, did you HAVE to transport that dam bird, too?" groaned an evil glaring Presea.

"Uhh...I didn't mean to!" Lloyd countered.

"Yeah, whatever." Genis shook his head, going back to his book while Yuka was now trying to fly out of Raine's magic area. "NOO! YOU ARE NOT LOOKING AT MY CELL PHONE!!! GENIS SAGE, RESTRAIN YOUR SISTER!!!!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Genis questioned.

"FIND A WAY! NOW!"

Genis sighed, and walked in front of Raine, waving a vase. Raine froze, staring at the vase and not who was holding it. Her left eye twitched as she chased down her brother, screaming all the facts of the vase. Rylan raised a confused eyebrow, "Someone still has yet to tell me WHY she's like that."

"Long story short: they were dumped as children, and she found the place where they were abandond, but she hasn't worn off of her craze." the human Noishe reported, not looking away from Regal's eye from a staring contest. (No, they're not lesbion or gay! No offense to anyone.)

"Oh." was Rylan unsatisfied answer.

"We've only been here for a month..." complained Mithos, "And we STILL haven't found Origin OR a way to get outta here. I need to shout this to the world: I HATE MY LLIIIIFFFFEEEEE!"

They listened to the echo of Mithos's voice and sweatdropped.

Kratos sighed, "I must hold on before I, too, go totally mad."

Anna poked him randomly.

"Too late."

"Oh, perk up. A have some recomended bottles of wine at the house. There's more than plenty. Get yourselves completly drunk, if you want." Sabrina grinned evilly.

Nari raised her hand, "I'm in!"

"Me too!" Zelos cried.

Everyone else looked at the teens on or near the horses and snapped, "None for you."

Rylan muttered, "Maybe if they get drunk enough, we should steal some for ourselves."

Hazel smirked dangerously and told the teens, "I think you guys should wait in the treehouses. It's not pretty when they get drunk."

"How do you know?" Athena asked.

"Lemme just say one thing: internet."

"What's internet?"

"An online thing on the computer."

"What's a computer?"

"A technology device that allows you to tap onto stuff that you can't normally."

"...I don't get it."

Yuka offered, "I'll show you sometime."

"Okay!" Athena smiled, getting on the back of Starlitt behind Nari.

"Be back. You guys ready?" Nari asked, looking back at Rylan and Renne sharing a quarter horse.

"Yeah." they chorused.

"Then let's go."

They tapped the horses gently on their stomachs with their heels, telling them to go forward. They went down the hill, automatically having the neighbors run up and ask, "Are you shooting a movie? Why are you dressed like that?"

Nari groaned, telling the others not to answer.

All she did was glare threateningly at them, and they nearly wet themselves, running inside.

Nari smirked victoriously, keeping the horses on their course.

"Well..." Lloyd looked at the position of the sun, which was heading downward, "I'd say it's about...6:32, so who's ready to get drunk?!"

Myrtle looked at her watch, shocked that it was, indeed, 6:32!

"Memememe!" Zelos smirked.

Colette twitched slightly, but nodded, "I haven't ever drinken..."

Sheena nodded, "First time for everyone. Wait - you have drank before! Back when I first became chief!"

Colette sagged her shoulders, thinking, "...I did?"

"Wow. She got REALLY drunk." blinked Presea.

"Well, c'mon." Kratos groaned, "I want to get this over with."

"Hey, am I still considered a child?" asked Mithos.

"...No, technicly not." Yuan shook his head.

"AWRIGHT!" Mithos pumped his fist.

"Drunk world, here we come." Anna sneered.

----

They didn't begin drinking until Nari returned, (out of the goodness of their hearts) and then they began. It was two hours later, and they were the most nineteen people you would've ever met. The nineteen as in the same Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Kratos, Raine, Sheena, Zelos, Presea, Regal, Noishe, Anna, Scarlett, Celeste, Mithos, Nari, Sabrina, Hazel, Mahala, and Myrtle.

They'd also been exchanging jokes whenever they did 'spin the bottle' and it landed on somebody.

Zelos spun it, and it landed on Anna. She giggled, "I remember one time, I think the first time Kratos and me had you-know-what...I became prenant with Lloyd."

Lloyd blinked, waving a shaking fist, "I did NOT want...to know that!"

Anna then spun it, and it pointed at Mahala. She admitted, "The first guy I kissed was in kindergarten!"

Everyone laughed at that...for some strange reason. She spun it, landing on Nari. She groaned and said, "One time, I became drunk back when there were still strange animals on the planets, and I got so drunk, I couldn't mount my horse. It picked me up by the shirt, and dragged me home!

----

Outside, the four teenagers were gaping at how drunk their parents were. The jokes...were most disturbing.

Athena made a vomiting noise and coughed, "I can't take anymore. I'm going back to the treehouses to sleep."

"I'll go with you." Zeki twitched.

"Me, too." Renne srunched her face up.

"And me." Rylan groaned.

The four walked back to the treehouses, not hearing anything from their parents until morning. They reached the treehouses in the woods crawling with panthers and bears (which they really reside in my woods in my backyard) safely. They then heard a faint voice, and they saw a white glowing spirit - like a ghost.

_"Rylan...Renne, Athena...Zeki..." _it begged, _"Listen to me."_

"Origin?!" Athena gasped.

_"Yes. Listen, I have not the power to transport you back to Symphonia. I won't have it for some time. The only thing I can tell you is this: tell your parents...someone has been constantly watching you." _and Origin faded away.

"Origin, wait!" Renne pleaded, but he vanished.

"Well, I guess we'll have to wait until morning." Zeki sighed, "They wouldn't take it seriously with how drunk they are right now."

"Yeah." Rylan nodded.

They climbed up the ladders into their 'rooms' in the treehouse. They were unaware of two dark hazel eyes staring at them once they fell asleep.

**Me: Did you like the first chapter?**

**Nari: I LUV GETTING DRUNK!**

**Me: I think you're still drunk...**

**Nari: No, I'm not. I'm hyper.**

**Me: Nari, you are so totally my missing half.**

**Nari: Yea!**

**Me: Yea!**

**(High fives each other)**

**Me and Nari: Read and review, tell SylphWindDancer/me how you liked it! Please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: Hello. I'm glad I at least didn't already have a writers block. **

**Nari: ...I swear, you are sooo stupid, and you own nothing.**

**Me: Thank you, Nari...really.**

Chapter 2: An Owed Race...

The next morning, all the adults were sitting in their treehouses, groaning in pain from their large hangovers.

Except...

"Nari?...Doesn't your head...hurt?" Lloyd breathed.

"Nope! I could've drank a whole store, but I'm use to this stuff. I could've taken something stronger!" Nari smirked.

"I think she's still drunk," Yuan commented, "No one in their right mind could drink that much."

"But she's not in her right mind." Anna swayed, getting up.

"I'm going back to sleep..." Lloyd and Celeste groaned.

Scarlett threatened, "Don't make me...bring out my real wings, Lloyd."

"I don't care."

"You sure?"

Zelos came in, perked up, "Hey! I have a cure all headaches from hang-"

"NO!!!!" everyone shrieked. (If you don't get, read chapter 12 from Past Times)

"Mom!" Zeki called as Celeste reeled back in pain, covering her ears, "Whadda want?" Celeste blinked her eyes rapidly.

"Origin was here last night!" Athena reported.

"ORIGIN?!" Mithos cried before falling down in pain, "Headscreaminginpain..." he repeated.

"What was Origin saying?" Kratos asked.

"That we are supposed to tell you that someone has been constantly watching us." Renne told them.

The others thought about this, wondering who it could possibly be. Noishe asked, "Did he say if it was a spirit, demon, monster, human, what?"

"No." they said.

"Well, we're gonna have to keep our guard up for a while. What else did he say?" wondered Presea.

Rylan recited, "He said he won't have the power to transport us for a while. Which is why, Uncle Lloyd, you couldn't feel him. He's a ghost."

"Oh. Well, that solves that. I'll keep it in mind. But for now...I want sleep." Lloyd laid back down.

The four teens rolled their eyes, and went down the ladders, walking with Anna, Kratos, Yuka, and Nari. When they reached the house, they heard Lloyd scream, "OOOWWWWW!!!! DAMMIT, SCARLETT, WHY DO MAKE ME SCREAM WHEN MY DAMN HEAD HURTS LIKE HELL?! PUT IT AWAY!!! OOOOOOWWWWWWW! YOU SON OF A-"

They sweatdropped after hearing more screaming from the others. They entered the house, hearing Mahala ask, "What was Lloyd screaming about?"

"Scarlett uses her real wings to burn Lloyd and wake him up." Kratos informed.

"Oh. Anyway, Yuka, Mom was suggesting we should show the others the world. As in: mall, school, neighborhood, and did I mention: mall?"

Yuka smiled widely (Yuan felt horrid from the feeling, and could guess something horrible was about to happen) and asked, "Today?"

"Yes."

"Shopping in heaven, here we come!"

"Yeah!"

Hazel came stumbling in the room, her head screaming, "Keep the volume down, would ya?" and walked back to bed.

Myrtle then came in, smelling her mother's homemade biscuits, "I'm just in time." and she walked to the kitchen, ignoring the others.

Mahala blinked, and then, they heard the doorbell ring after Mahala told Yuka that their father was away on another buisness trip. Yuka went and answered the door. Nari peered behind her, and there were two young teenage boys, one with dark brown hair and eyes, and his younger brother with light brown, almost blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hey, Yuka, you haven't been home for a while!" the two frowned, "You still owe us that race!"

Yuka shook her head, "Calvin, Chase, its too freakin' early. Come back later."

Chase, the younger brother snapped, "What? Afraid we're gonna whip ya?"

Yuka grabbed a pair of keys, and called, "Leave some biscuits for me!" and she ran out the door, Nari interested, followed them, "Leave some for me, too!"

The four ran up past the thirteen walking down, ready for breakfast, Lloyd chasing Scarlett, swinging his swords mercilessly.

Calvin stopped in his tracks, asking, "Yuka, is that...Lloyd Irving Aurion?"

Yuka quickly grabbed his hand, "No, he doesn't exist! How could a video game character be real?"

Calvin and Chase frowned, but kept running up the hill to the barn. Yuka inserted the keys, opening the tack room that held all the horse riding equipment. She told Chase to go call in their horses, and call up Nari's now mustang horse, Banner. He did so, Banner trotting in along with two quarterhorses, Calvin's named Jumper and Chase's called Moose.

Yuka told Nari in their town of five thousand, they watch over everyone's horses. Sabrina had appearantly bought a lot more land, and told Yuka they now own over one thousand acres.

Nari helped Yuka bring out blankets and saddles with the bridles to place on the horses, one at a time. Jumper was saddled up, followed by Banner, then Moose, and Yuka placed a western saddle on Starlitt's back, with a bitless bridle. Yuka quickly opened the gate, let the four horses and three people out, and quickly shut it again.

She jumped on Starlitt, telling Nari boundaries for their race. Yuka lost a Nascar bet(they were obviously, hovering cars that didn't run on anything that polluted), and the brothers demanded that she own them a horse race. She, of course, accepted, knowing she could whip them, no matter how much better they got. Nari nodded when she understood, but she simpily said that she was along for the ride, and she'd follow them.

They all lined up their horses in a perfectly straight line, Yuka saying, "Ready?...Go!" and they tapped the horses gently, making them trot, then tapped them again, making them run.

Down at the house, everyone was sitting outside, eating their biscuit at ten in the morning, then they heard galloping horses approach them. They saw four blurs as they turned left, riding down the road. Lloyd screamed, "Ahh! Stampede!"

Regal blinked, "It was just Yuka, Nari, and two boys."

Lloyd opened his shut eyes, chuckling, "Hehe, oh."

Yuka was starting Starlitt out easy so she wouldn't wear out too fast. However, Chase and Calvin were running their horses faster than they should've. Moose and Jumper ran past Starlitt without any effort, and Starlitt didn't flinch or run faster. She listened to her master's intructions. Nari and Banner came up beside Yuka and Starlitt, riding beside them.

They went through the wonderous forest, jumping bushes and creeks, dodging trees and people. When they approaching the house again, Yuka tapped on the Starlitt who hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Nari did the same, the two increasing their speed, passing the two worn out horses easily.

"Hey!" was all Calvin and Chase yelped. But they knew better than to make the horses run faster. They turned up the sidewalk, Yuka making Starlitt run as fast as she could, Nari following close behind, and then Calvin and Chase.

The group, by then, had brought up breakfast to all the others in the treehouses, and were emerging from the woods. They saw the end of the race: Yuka obviously winning, then Nari, the Calvin and Chase.

The two boys accepted their defeat, and they brushed down the horses so they wouldn't get sick or woozy. The four horses then drank a little water as the four teens walked to Yuka's house, talking amongst themselves, eating what few biscuits that were left.

Mahala came in the room, smirking, "Yuka, time to hit the stores!"

**Me: Hey, if anyone didn't understand some of the tack items, you can ask me by e-mailing or REVIEWING!**

**Nari: Hey, that's MY line!**

**Me: Next chapter, the ToS gang is introduced to the horrid mall! Personally, I don't like shopping like that, but I said what the hey?**

**Nari: Mall? Shopping? It's the end of the world!**

**Me: And in case you haven't figured it out, Myrtle is supposed to 'represent' my oldest siser, Hazel, my middle sister, and Mahala is supposed to be sorta like me.**

**Nari: And if you didn't understand THAT, you're on your own, cause I didn't understand it other.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: Sleepy...**

**Nari: Why?**

**Me: I dunno. It's been rough at school, I guess.**

**Nari: Well, get over it!**

**Me: You wouldn't last one day in my school with your education!**

**Nari: Try me!**

**Me: Why is Stonehenge called 'Stonehenge' and where is it located?**

**Nari: That's not fair! You're using your planet's knowledge!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Chapter 3: Welcome to the Mall!

"Awright!" Yuka pumped a fist, running to her old room, and grabbed some money.

They all got into a hover _bus_ so they could fit everyone in one vehicle. Yuka explained, "Now, guys, even if someone really pissess you off, no magic, swordfighting, ect, okay? I've gotten you guys new clothes that outta hold you until we get back, and the money currency is dollars, not gald, alright?"

They all fidgeted in their new clothes, but understood.

Lloyd now had on a red shirt with a BAM symbol on it with blue jeans, and he had to leave his swords at home, like everyone else. Colette wore a white skirt and a blue collar neck shirt. Genis left what he had on, and Kratos wore a black shirt with skull dragons on the back, and a strange symbol on the front. Raine wore her school teaching outfit, Sheena wore a blue shirt with a pair of white jeans, Presea wore a short dress, Zelos had a pink shirt on that said 'tough guys wear pink', with a pair of blue jeans, Regal wore a blue shirt and dark blue jeans. Noishe wore a Panthers football hat and had a camoflauge shirt that said 'can you see me now?', and black jeans, Anna had a pair of blue jeans, and a green shirt.

I'm sure you're tired of reading this, but I'm telling you, they're gonna be on Earth for a while.

Scarlett had a red shirt with a small overjacket with blue capris, Celeste had a silver shirt that had a gold moon on it, and had a pair of blue jeans. Rylan and Renne both had a pair of camoflauge shorts, but Renne had a brown shirt whil Rylan had a yellow, Athena wore a purple shirt with silver jeans, Mithos wore tan shorts and had a orange shirt. Zeki had a brown and white shirt with black jeans, Nari wore a red shirt with a longjacket that was black, and she wore blue flare jeans, Yuka had a blue shirt on that had clouds and she wore green capris, and last, but certainly not least, Yuan had his pair of baggy white jeans, but he had a black shirt similiar to Kratos's.

Whoa, that took a long time to read/type.

Anyway...

They pulled into the Eastridge Gaston Mall, the ToS group standing, gaping. "This is bigger than the whole village of Iselia!" Colette blinked.

"Bigger than Luin." Anna challanged.

"Not as big as Palmacosta or Meltokio, though." Yuka twitched, "That's probably the Mall of America."

"Wow..." Presea breathed.

"Well, are you just gonna stand there, or are we goin' shopping?!" Mahala cheered, walking towards the mall.

"Who hoo!" Nari cheered, "Shop till ya drop!"

"You're on!" Yuka punched her, running ahead of her.

The others followed suit, entering a JC Pennys.

The group looked around at all of the clothes, trinkets, such.

"I've never seen so many clothes at once..." Celeste twitched.

"Well, try some on." Mahala offered, showing the men where their section was, and took the girls to their section.

"Aw, that looks cute on you." Scarlett smiled at Celeste's skirt with glitter and designs on it.

"Does it really?" Celeste flushed.

Renne asked Athena, "How do you think this would look like on me?" and she held up a halter neck shirt of orange.

"Hmm..." Athena examined her, "I think you could use something more like...this!" and she held up a shirt and skirt pair of just her size that was white and blue.

"Oh, Athena, you're such a wonderful shopper!" Renne beamed.

Anna tried on a number of clothes, as did all the wives, wondering what their husbands would think of it.

"Hey, Nari..." Sheena asked, looking at a jacket, "Now that I think about, are you married?"

"Married?! I'm only twenty!" Nari exclaimed.

"Really?" Yuka blinked, "Could've fooled me. I thought you were eighteen."

"I don't know if I should feel better or if I should be killing someone right now."

All the nearby shoppers dropped what they had, and cautiously walked away slowly.

"Anyway, no, I'm not married." Nari shook her head.

Mahala asked, "Do you like anybody?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't like me." Nari a depressed look on her face.

"Who is it?" Raine asked, curiously.

"...Someone you don't know yet. That's all I'm gonna say." Nari answered.

Meanwhile, the guys were...

"Why is this thing so complecated?!" Lloyd complained, trying on a tux suit.

"Because you don't know what you're doing." Kratos sighed.

"Than- HEY!"

"You're welcome." Kratos smirked.

"I wonder what the girls are doing." Genis wondered aloud, absentminded, thinking of Presea.

"Trying on girl clothes." Zelos answered, looking at the teen stupidly.

"Shut up!" Genis blushed.

They then saw the girls approaching them, a few shopping bags. "Aren't you guys done _yet?" _asked Scarlett.

"These darn clothes are complecated!" Lloyd complained again.

"That's your prob." Mahala sneered, "There anything ya'll wanna buy?"

They looked at each other, exchanging glances, and rang, "Nah."

"Alright, take those off, put them back, and let's continue." Yuka urged.

The men did so, and emerged from the changing room, following the girls again, listening to their conversation.

Mahala smiled, "Hey, Yuka, lookat the shoes I got!" and she balenced on her shoes, rolling on the wheels.

"Aw, sweet! You got the heelys!" Yuka frowned, "Twerp."

"Nuh, unh!" Mahala stuck her tongue out at her.

"Look at that!" Colette chirped, pointing at the escalator moving up to the second floor. "What is that? Moving stairs?"

"Well, kinda. They move, but you just go up. Here, c'mon." Mahala gestured, stepping on the stairs carefully. "It's easy."

"If you say so..." and Colette jumped on.

The others did so, as well. The went up to the second floor, and Mahala instantly squealed, "We HAVE to go into Hot Topic!" and she ran into the store, Yuka quickly following her.

"I think this is gonna be a long day," Genis sighed, "And with a bunch of girls. Horrid."

Presea inquired, "And what's wrong with girls?"

"N-nothing, Pre-Presea!" Genis flushed.

"Uh-huh..." Presea blinked, unconvinced.

They followed the girls into the small store. They found the two in the back, squealing over accessories of a certain kind.

"What?...What the?" Zelos frowned, not understanding.

The two were by shirts, looking at 'InuYasha' and 'Fruits Basket' t-shirts.

"Hey, here's one of Kyou!" Mahala grinned, picking the shirt up with the orange head on the front.

"Here's a Sesshomaru." challenged Yuka, holding up the silver head demon shirt.

"Kyou's hotter!"

"You sound like a fangirl."

"I AM a fangirl!"

"Rrrriiiggggghhhttt!"

"Shut up! Listen to this imitation: oohhh! Kyou-sama!"

"Stick to being stupid, okay?"

The other girls looked at the shirts, finding this whole conversation a little strange. The men finally dragged the women out of the store, but Mahala was nice, and bought the two shirts for the two of them. But of course, I swooped down and stole them, trying them on; then I disappeared back into the heavens!

"Sylphy!"

Sylphy? What the heck?

"Give the shirts back!" the two shrieked, startling everyone in the mall that was within hearing distance.

Muhahaha! Never! Sess and Kyou are my two favs out of those two shows!

"Sylphy!"

Would you SHUT UP?

The two pouted, and gave up.

Anyway...

They showed them all around the mall, in every store, and showed them their own personal favorite things. They finally stopped at the foodcourt. (Of course, with tired arms from carrying all the shopping bags)

They looked at all the choices of food. Italian, mexican...but, of course, Lloyd wanted to eat it all.

Anna and Yuka smacked him upon the head, telling him 'no.' Yuka explained about how it seems rude to do that in public, like they were now. Lloyd frowned, and agreed not to eat it ALL. Well, they decided that half the group would get some mexican, while the other half would get italian. You couldn't go wrong, either way.

In the end, the opposite occured. The half that bought mexican ended up liking italian, and the italian half liked mexican. Lloyd ate a whole extra large pepporoni pizza BY HIMSELF (which I did one time) and they had to order another one.

"Ya' know..." Mahala commented, looking at her watch, "It's almost time to go. It's already 7:00. I promised Mom we'd be home by nine. So, we have to finish eating, and if you have any last wishes of where to go, speak up."

Yuka looked at her 'sister,' and snapped, "I'm goin' to Journey to get heelys."

"Well, go ahead. What's keepin' ya?" Mahala snorted.

"Fine. Gimme the money."

"Ah-ah-ah! Gimme never got anyone where they are now."

"Fine. I demand the money."

Mahala frowned, handing her the remaining money, and she ran to Journey. Ten minutes later, Yuka ran back up, wearing a pair of flat soled black and blue shoes with wheels on the bottom. She looked challenging at Mahala, who almost threatened to leave without her.

"NOW we can go." Yuka nodded.

"Fina-lly!" Mahala groaned, walking towards the exit of JC Pennys. Everyone (who was carrying at least one bag) gathered around the hover bus stop, piling into the area for waiting. Mithos smelled the air, and reported, "It think it's gonna rain later."

"Yeah. It IS getting cloudy." Yuan agreed.

Scarlett groaned, hating the rain unless she was inside. Hey, she is, kinda fire, herself. Could you blame her? Finally, five minutes later, the bus arrived, carrying the large group to the end of Yuka and Mahala's road, and dropped them off. It began to drizzle, and the group began running to the house, not really wanting to get wet. They barely made it, getting only a little wet.

They shook of a little, and opened the door, sliding their shoes off, announcing, "We're home!"

"Hey." greeted a mna's voice. An elf with dark blue hair and icy blue eyes was sitting in the den area.

"Father?" Yuka and Yuan blinked in unison, "What're you doing here?"

"I stay, remember? I've been here ever since, I was just out for a while. By the way, it's supposed to rain today, right?" James inquired.

"Yeah." they all nodded.

"Did you notice the temperature?"

Mahala and Yuka ran outside, and looked at the thermonitor. They ran back in, nearly screaming, "It should snow tonight!"

Sabrina came in the room, smiling, "And what happens when it snows?"

Myrtle and Hazel came in, jumping up and down, "The whole street area gathers on the hill to snowboard, ski, sled, and have snowball fights!"

"Get dressed warmly tonight. There should be snow in the morning." James hinted.

**Me: SNOW!!!!**

**Nari: SNOW!!**

**Me: PARTY!**

**Nari: SNOWBOARD!**

**Me: SKI!**

**Nari: HORSE BACK RIDING IN COLD WEATHER WITH A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE!**

**Me: READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**A/N: For some of you who have remembered, Mahala from Frozen Time is not the same as my representative.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me: You better be happy that I'm making longer chapters than I used to.**

**Nari: What-ever.**

**Me: Hey, be nice!**

**Nari: You mean by saying that SylphWindDancer, a.k.a. Sylphy owns nothing.**

**Me: (Draws scythe) NOW YOU DIE!**

Chapter 4: Myth...

Throughout the night, Yuka and Scarlett kept awaking with nightmares. Nightmares of never returning to Symphonia. How they'd be trapped on Earth for countless years, but Theron showed himself, and they lost their ability to fight, so they were killed.

Yuka, who couldn't stand it anymore, got up to get a drink in the kitchen. She slipped by the few who were sleeping the the house: James, Scarlett, Yuan, Celeste, and Nari (the teens snapped and said they could sleep in the woods like adults.). Tip-toeing past them, she made it into the kitchen. A cold chill was sent down her spine - it was extremly cold in the house, even with the three heaters that they owned.

Refund.

Yuka got a cup, and got herself water from the fridge. She drank it, but saw that it quickly froze into ice. She frowned, and really began to wonder.

"Sorry...it's my doing." murmured a voice behind her. Yuka turned and saw Celeste looking at the wall absentmindedly.

"Huh?" Yuka pondered.

"Ya know how Scarlett is like fire? Yeah, well, I'm...like ice. I like the cold more, and she likes the warmth more. Like she has the ability to either suck up warmth, or spread it out, I do the same." Celeste explained.

"But...why are you-"

"I guess I'm just stressed. I'm still thinking of Theron, and why he'd let Tobias take over."

"...Oh." was all Yuka could come up with.

Celeste took the cold away, thawing out her water, which was now cold. "Hey," Yuka held up her glass, "Cold isn't always a bad thing. It can be useful."

Celeste smiled, and announced that she was returning to bed, ready for more sleep. Yuka nodded, and Celeste walked back in the den, taking back her place beside her sister, making her stir. "Is something the matter?" Scarlett asked, sleepy.

"No, it's nothing. Go back to sleep." Celeste answered.

Scarlett looked at her questionably, but obeyed, trying to sleep more without a nightmare.

Yuka was standing silently, listening the fan in her mother's room. Her 'father' always slept with a fan on, to make noise; he even had it on in the winter. Yuka chuckled silently. She wondered where her 'father' was this time. _I think Myrtle said...Origon?...Maybe...it was...Phoenix?...Oh, well._

She finished her drink, and was about to go back to her room, but she saw something white flash by the window. She blinked, and thought she was dreaming. She rubbed her eyes throughly, and looked again.

Nothing.

She probably was just dreaming.

No...something else just flashed by.

And she walked to the kitchen sink, and peered out, seeing small snowflakes on the bushes, tree branches, and windowsill. She smiled. She hadn't seen snow in a long time. Especially on Earth.

She grinned, knowing there would be at least three feet in the morning, and walked through the den, and entered her room, climbing back into bed. Before she knew it, it was morning. It was unusually bright, and she knew it was from the snow. She blinked a couple times so her eyes would adjust to the light. She sat up and looked out her window.

More than three feet.

Maybe not even three and a half.

At least _four and a half _feet of snow!

She looked at her watch that said ten o' clock, and she would be nice to Mahala, whom she shared a room with. Yuka sat up, and put her slippers on before creeping out to the living room, looking at the calender. It was January fourteenth, two thousand, seven. Hmmm...what day was it when she left?...

She froze.

What about school? What would she do tomorrow? Continue as if nothing happened? Or did time thaw out and start to move as she was still in Symphonia? She could always ask her mother when she got up.

Yuka walked lazily out to their backporch, and let their three dogs out, then walked to the living room to join those few who were up. She turned on the tv, explaining what it was. Thankfully, Raine wasn't up yet.

They watched a movie: _X-Men 3: The last Stand. _(what can I say? I have been watching it lately) And the group were fascinated by it. But...every time Raine would come in to see about something, they'd quickly turn the television off, then turn it back on when she left.

They finished the movie and it was much later, so they woke up all the sleepyheads.

Simply by doing... (yuka warned her mom ahead of time, though...)

"FFFIIIIRREEE!" screamed Yuka and Nari.

"Ahhh!" all the others ran outside faster than you could say 'griffon.'

The others inside laughed and laughed until they couldn't breathe. Even Sabrina came out, shaking her head. The people outside were, of course, cursing the others out, even a few, flipping them off. (whistles) Whoa.

They all walked back inside, and Nari and Yuka smiled sweetly, "Sorry. False alarm."

"The hell it was." Hazel grumbled.

They cooled down, and after the kids/teens were done cheering about the snow, everyone was dressed warmly when the doorbell rang.

Yuka muttered to Nari, "Three thousand Glad if it's Calvin and Chase."

"You're on," Nari grinned.

Yuka opened the door to see Calvin and Chase standing at the door, covered in snow, each holding a sled or snowboard. They whooped, "C'mon, Yuka! It's time to sled, snowboard, and ice tube! We already put up the signs! C'mon, c'mon!"

"Alright, gimme a minute. I gotta drag our stuff out." Yuka nodded, "Here, come in." and the boys brushed past her, staring at the large group of an uncountable number in the den. (The survivors were inside, too.)

Yuka felt around for something on the wall, and she appearantly found it. She pressed a button, and a beep noise was heard. She walked over to their shelves that held their books, and she opened a small, hidden compartment, filled with winter gear. Snowboards, deflated tubes, skis, goggles, ect. She dragged everything out, down to the last pair of gloves. Yuka, Sabrina, and Myrtle handed the accessories out, and, amazingly enough, there was enough winter gear for everyone!

Calvin and Chase looked at each other in amazment, before grinning, "The more, the merry...er!" and they ran outside, being chased down by Yuka...for a strange reason. She was screaming bloody murder, then yelled, "I'm gonna show you why your Mom named you Chase! I'm gonna cut your head off your shoulders-"

They ran out of hearing distance, even of the angels. They blinked and Hazel frowned, "Umm...don't ask."

They shrugged it off, following the Earth people outside into the deep snow. The four women led them next door, which had a steep, steep, _steep _hill on the property, and it was filled with people. (This is what we really do.) When they were next door, Mahala chuckled, "Lemme show you how it's done."

She walked over ot one of her friends, a boy with black hair and green eyes, tapping him. He turned around, and looked at her as she held up her snowboard. He grinned and raised his own, following her to the middle of the top of the hill. They looked down and saw two ramps set up, and everyone knew what was coming.

"Mahala, Seth, you know, of course, not to fall in the creek ahead. But this year, just for you two, we put up two more ramps just by the creek so you can jump it." a girl with black hair and blue eyes smiled.

"Awright! Thanks, Shadiasha!" Seth pumped his fist, attaching his feet to the metal board, and Mahala beside him was doing the same.

_Great. Jump that wide thing? Heh. Hopefully, I won't fall in like Hazel did two years ago. _Mahala shook her head.

Just before they pushed off, Yuka flew by on a snowboard, chasing...Chase as he flew by on a sled. They blinked, but pushed off just as Shadiasha dropped her raised hands with a flag. The ToS group were particually interested, and they watched closely.

Mahala bent down low, giving herself more speed. Seeing this, Seth did the same. They gradually sped up, until they reached the ramps. They flew up high in the air, doing flips and random tricks, trying to get attention. They landed with a grunt, and continued down the hill. When they were at the bottom, they didn't see any cars, and gave themselves even more speed. They reached the second pair of ramps, and prepared themselves for anything.

They flew up in the air. So far, so good. It looked like nothing would happen.

They were wrong.

A large white ball of Mana flew towards Mahala, hitting her in the air. "MAHALA!" Seth cried, looking back, already knowing he couldn't do anything.

Scarlett quickly said, "No matter what you guys said..." and ran towards Mahala, flames engulfing her. So much fire surrounded her, you couldn't even see her. The flames faded, and there, standing, was the Phoenix that lived on inside Scarlett's body. She released her fifteen foot wings spand, flapping quickly, taking off. (I know I said twelve before, but I'm saying fifteen now)

She'd just reached Mahala in time. She swooped right below her, her wings scraping the water surface, but she managed to pull up. Mahala was panting for breath and saw that Seth landed safely.

_Good...I don't want him getting hurt because of me._

But then, Mahala noticed what she was riding on: a Phoenix. She began to panic, but heard Scarlett's voice in her mind, **_It's all right. It's me, Scarlett. I've gotcha. Everyone else is okay, too._**

****Mahala quickly listened, calming down. What she hadn't noticed was that Lloyd and Mithos actually stopped the time together. Scarlett landed, ruffling some of her feathers. "How'd you stop the time? I thought you could only do that with Origin and the Eternal Sword."

"I...dunno. I just sorta...did it." the two boys answered, dumbfounded.

"Either way...who shot that Mana at Mahala?" Myrtle inquired, worried for her sister.

"I don't...feel anyone else around." Kratos muttered, looking around at the surroundings.

As if to answer, another ball of Mana raced towards Celeste. She didn't have time to move, and it hit her directly, landing on the right side of her chest, knocking the wind out of her body. Celeste fell to her knees, trying to regain her breath.

She couldn't get enough.

The world became blurry.

She fainted.

**Celeste's Dream**

**"Where...am I? Augh...my chest hurts...bad." I opened my eyes, looking at my surroundings. I was still on Earth. I was in Yuka's yard. **

**I sat up, realizing I could breathe again. I shook my head, and saw that all the snow was still on the ground, but yet...it was untouched except for my body imprint laying down on the ground.**

**_"Celeste..." _I heard a voice whisper.**

**"Who's there?!" I instantly demanded, turning around.**

**There, in front of me, stood Theron.**

**"Th...Theron?" I breathed.**

**"It's me, Celeste." Theron answered, smiling. "I don't have much time."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"Tobias will come back soon. I can feel the burning impulse of his heart...which is the same as mine." **

**"..."**

**"Will you listen to what I have to say?"**

**"Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?"**

**"I don't know either. But...you know how Scarlett can transform into a Phoenix, correct? Yeah, of course. Well, anyway...that creature is like her spirit. Another form of her body. Every one of you in the group has a creature, as wel, most of them are only mythical creatures, however. Some are similiar, while some are nothing alike."**

**"Really? I have one...too?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Could you recall everyone's to me?"**

**"I can try. You are a winged horse, or a pegasus, as you call them. Lloyd and Kratos are wyverns, Colette is a unicorn, Genis, Raine, and Presea are wood nymphs, Sheena and Renne are mermaids, Zelos is sprite, Regal is a chimera, Noishe can just be his previous evelutions, Mithos and Zeki are griffons, Athena is a hyppogriph, Anna is a sylph, Nari is a wingless dragon - she can levitate, and Rylan a water nymph."**

**"You forgot Yuka and Yuan."**

**"Their creatures are yet to be revealed. It will all happen in time, my darling.**

**I felt my face flush as I saw Theron begin to fade. "Wait!" I called, "Can you-"**

**"I cannot stay any longer. I'm sorry. Don't forget, keep Zeki close." and he faded.**

**The scene of my dream faded, as well.**

**End Celeste'd Dream**

"...coming to! Mom, can you hear me?" called Zeki.

Celeste groaned, and saw she was in the house, all of the other twenty five were gathered right in her face, glad she woke up. She then remembered the dream, and flew up, startling the others.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked.

"Theron...animals...myths..." Celeste panted, trying to remember everything that he told her.

Zeki looked at his mom, hoping she was feeling alright now...but she sure wasn't showing it.

Celeste quickly relayed the dream to her father and everyone else.

When she finished, the three Seraphim thought hard about Theron told her, but none of them could tell her what he was talking about. All they could see was in time. Scarlett nodded, "I'll keep an eye out for it in my visions."

"Yeah." Celeste sighed, getting up.

Two pairs of eyes were at the window, listening in. One were orange eyes and the others were dark hazel eyes.

"We need to move it up now that they know...if they figure it out, we could both die."

"Yes, sir."

**Me: That was hard. I had to ask my sister's help for all those creatures.**

**Nari: Pathetic.**

**Me: Well, I wanted to get good creatures, and I wanted everyone's to be different, but...that didn't happen.**

**Etheral Thoughts: Yeah, well...it's hard to think of one for...(looks at my plot paper)...twenty one people.**

**Me: Yeah, yeah.**

**ET: Hey, you sayin' you don't need my help?**

**Me: I didn't say _that..._**

**Nari: Wow. Sisterly bonding. Read and review. Sylphy-**

**Me: I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!**

**Nari: -may hold a contest to see if anyone can guess Yuka and Yuan's creatures. Small hints: they aren't any of the others, and Yuan's begins with 'y' and Yuka's begins with 'f'.**

**Me and Nari: Do your best!**

**ET: Why are you turning into Tohru?**

**Me: Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket?**

**Tohru: H-huh? I...feel honored to be mentioned even though SylphWindDancer and Etheral Thoughts don't own me or Fruits Basket!**

**Kyo: (which we don't own either) Tohru, c'mon, we have to get outta here.**

**Me and ET: KYO-KUN!!!!**

**Kyo: ACH!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Me: Cliffy?**

**Nari: No.**

**Me: Shaddup.**

**Nari: No.**

**Me: Is that all you're saying right now?**

**Nari: No.**

**Me: Argh...**

**Nari: SylphWindDancer owns nothing.**

**Me: Wow! Did you just say something else?**

**Nari: No.**

**Me: Warning, readers. There may be a character death in this chapter in case you didn't notice the title.**

**Nari: NO!**

Chapter 5: Death...

"Huh? I thought I just heard something." Presea reported.

"Really? I didn't hear anything..." Noishe frowned.

Kratos walked to the door, opening it. He looked around, seeing nothing, nor feeling anything. Just more flurrys of snow. He smiled gently before shutting the door, announcing that he saw nothing.

"I must've just been imaging things." Presea noted appologeticly.

"No. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled anyway, for this certain someone who has been watching us." Regal argued.

"I agree." Zelos nodded.

Scarlett frowned and thought deeply about an idea to get a vision of this without having to sleep. An idea finally hit her. "Lloyd, give me your hand."

"W-what?" Lloyd stuttered.

"The one with the Exsphere, you idiot." Scarlett snapped. "You, too, Celeste."

They looked at her like she was stupid, but obeyed. Lloyd handed her his left hand as did Celeste. Scarlett placed Celeste's on the bottom, hers in the middle, and Lloyd's on top in the order of their age. She concentrated hard, shutting her eyes. After a few moments, she breathed quietly, "I...see something. A...cave...Lord Percival...and...wyverns, nymphs, Noishe, dragons, and such. There's alot of them..."

**Scarlett's Vision**

**Percival was staring down at over thousands of mythical creatures. He was telling them about an upcoming war. The Kharlan War, most likely. "...and I shall become one of the land, waiting to help it."**

**A silver dragon questioned, "But Lord Percival! We aren't to take place in this war?"**

**Percival answered quietly, "No. This is a war between the angels and man. Not us. We don't want to risk getting our kind destroyed."**

**A sylph barked, "But what if we don't get all of ourselves killed? We will continue to live forever!"**

**"No."**

**The fight continued until Percival announced he was fading into the mountain. "And don't get yourselves killed for honor...we are all honored enough as it is." and he vanished, turning into the flame his is now.**

**Afterward, the creatures all left, a harpy flying up, telling them the war had begun. They then began to fight amongst themselves once more to see if anyone was brave enough to go against Percival's word. Then, one by one, they gave in, following the first one who'd stepped forward: a black dragon. They all eventually gave in, except Noishe. Noishe wanted to respect Percival's word, so he wasn't going to fight the angels like the others. He'd do the opposite if he decided to do anything else. Even all the protozoans thought he was idiotic, and they left him, running to a battle they couldn't win.**

**Noishe flew low through the forests to help in the Holy Ground of Kharlan. But, when he was almost there, he was attacked, by archers. Man. Not angels. They ambushed him, shooting arrows deep into his skin, and left him to die by bleeding to death.**

** It'd just by luck, happened that Kratos had been running to the land, as well, when he stumbled upon Noishe in his bird form. Kratos pulled the arrows out of his body, healing up his wounds. Noishe was then positive that no angel was worse than human. They were just the same. So, from there on, Noishe never left his side.**

**But, it'd just so happened, that the three Seraphim that'd killed one of these sacred creatures, had the spirit live in his body. Kratos with a wyvern, Mithos with a griffon, but Yuan's remained unidentified. (By this point, Martel had already gotten killed)**

**End Scarlett's Vision**

Scarlett ended her discription of the vision, and opened her eyes again. They took their hand formation apart, still thinking.

"But then, how do we have these creatures and how do they come out?" asked Genis.

"I dunno. I can't find that out right away." Scarlett twitched out of stress.

"Well, maybe time will tell." Anna nodded.

"Yeah." they all murmured quietly, slightly disturbed by this giant information. But, after a while, they'd eventually given up on finding it out right away, and they sat around, struggling to prevent Raine from taking the television apart.

"I'm gonna introduce them to my Gamecube!" Mahala grinned proudly.

"Oh, God, no." Hazel nearly sobbed, "We'll not get out of this alive."

Mahala came back out, holding a purple Gamcube with you know what game inside. She set up the TV, turning the power on, on the Gamecube. The little cubed G went spinning around and the ToS group were all bewildered. Mahala introduced them...to Tales of Symphonia.

They listened to Kratos's voice narrate as Anna was gawking at how much this 'person inside the TV sounded like her Kratty.' When they saw an eraser slam Lloyd in the face, and saw Raine was the culprit, she grinned proudly, "Serves you right for sleeping in my session."

Lloyd flinched, rubbing his nose where the eraser had hit him all those years ago. He then whimpered as his father's shadow emerged over him, his mother's right behind his father's. He slowly turned around, looking at his parent's glaring at him.

"THIS is why you can't figure ANYTHING out?" Kratos glared, "Because you were SLEEPING in CLASS?"

"Dad...I can explain..." Lloyd chuckled nervously.

"LLOYD IRVING AURION, I'M EXTREMLY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! RAINE IS GOING TO GIVE **_YOU A SESSION IN CLASS _RIGHT NOW!" **screamed Anna.

"AHHHH!!!!! MERCY!!!" Lloyd cried.

Scarlett found this a good oppertunity to get outside for some fresh air. Nobody had noticed, and she was glad. Even that Yuan hadn't folloewd her. She wanted some alone time. She walked and looked around, feeling the cold of the snow that was falling. She looked next door and saw a boy on a sled with brown hair and eyes who was going down the hill. She heard someone scream, "Watch out, Zach!"

Zach looked around and saw a white van coming towards him. The person in the van didn't see him, and kept driving. (this actually happened-no joke!) He whooped, and laid flat in his sled. He barely managed to escape the hovering vehicle's front end. The van screeched to a halt, peering his head out the window asking if he hit the boy. Another man shook his head saying, "All's good." and the man drove on.

Zach, on the other hand, also was lucky that he didn't fall in the creek. He was hanging on by the fence, and some people helped him up. When he was safely on the ground, he pumped a fist, screaming, "WHHOO!! I WANNA DO THAT AGAIN!"

Scarlett shook her head and smiled. She walked up the hill to the barn to sit in the hayloft and think to herself. She reached the barn, and rubbed Starlitt on the head before climbing up on some wood, going around an old cabinet, and she jumped on the stairs. (mine have no guardrails. Kinda spooky to go up) She got up to the top, and she was right near the roof. _Hmm...maybe a view of something beautiful would help me clear my mind better... _Scarlett thought, looking to make sure no one was watching. She quickly summoned her wings, and flew to the roof through the open door in the hayloft.

She floded her wings back in, and sat down to take in the wonderous scenery. One way were a few houses in sight covered with snow on the rooftops, and the other way was the forest covering in snow, along with wonderful horses, and some people that survived a horrible wrath of her sister's husband. Kind of twisted, huh?

She sat, her back turned to the houses, and her eyes set on the forest. She stood, watching her step, and walked to the other side to be closer to the forest. She sat there for about five minutes before she heard something in her head...whispering voices.

_"Scarlett...dead...alive...cursed..." _a man's voice whispered quietly.

Another voice murmured, _"Cursed...creatures...mind control..."_

"Stop it." Scarlett commanded in a harsh whisper, gritting her teeth, trying the block the pressure in her mind.

The voices sped up, repeating the same words over and over again, speeding up until it seemed like they couldn't anymore.

"Stop it...stop it...STOP IT!" she screamed, wanting the voices to stop.

They didn't.

More pressure was on her head, forcing her to her knees. Her hands balled up into fists, squeezing so hard that they turned white and you could practically seeing her blood.

Faster...

"Shut up!" Scarlett panted.

Faster.

"SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Even faster.

"Goddess." she cursed, her chest tightening.

And faster.

"..." Scarlett couldn't stand it anymore. She shut her eyes in pain, and at last, couldn't take it anymore. She collasped, hearing Yuan and Yuka calling her name, Lloyd, Celeste, and her parents a little farther off.

"Yuan..." Scarlett breathed. The last thing she heard was the voice again, saying: _"You are just in sight...will you save my life again?" _

"Yuan, I'm sure she just went to the treehouses to check on the others. After all, even if they have heated treehouses, it's still rather cold." Yuka assured.

"She would've told me." Yuan bit out.

"Hey, look! There are some footprints!" Lloyd called from the barn. Celeste followed them up the stairs, following the snows prints. She got up to the top, seeing the open hayloft door. "She's not up here!" Celeste shouted out the doors to the two siblings up in the woods.

Yuan frowned, looking down. There weren't any footprints here. She didn't go into the woods. He ran back down the hills, heading to the barn, calling her name. Yuka froze. Just as she was on the slope right by the side of the barn, she was the most disturbing thing.

"YUAN!" she screamed, summoning her wings.

"What? Did you find her?" Yuan asked, following her.

They all flew to the roof, Yuan seeing her. His heart wrenched tight.

Scarlett was laying there, blood by her head. "SCARLETT!" he yelled, running over to her, grasping her head to find the blood. There was no cut, gash, or anything. "Telepathy." he cursed.

Kratos and Yuan were attempting to heal her, but the blood kept flowing from no wound. No matter what they did, it wouldn't stop. Celeste was on the verge of tears, hugging her brother, hoping they could help her. Lloyd kicked the snow out of fury, wishing he'd been near to prevent this. Yuka could only stand by and watch as they tried to help her.

_I wish I could do something so that I could take the pain away from Scarlett, but at this power rate, it'd probably hurt Yuan, too. _Yuka bit her lip. _I want to do something...something..._

Even though it looked hopeless, they kept trying, Lloyd now being hugged by Celeste and his mother. Yuka let stray tears faintly roll down her cheek as did the other women.

But, at last, the men ran out of Mana, wearing out. Kratos cursed to the heavens, Anna running over to him. Yuan's vision was blurring from hot tears of anger and sadness. He cradled Scarlett's head in his lap, doing the only thing he could think of.

He bent down, locking their lips. Only one thing was wrong. Scarlett was embracing the kiss. Either way, Yuan continued, kissing her with all the love he had to offer. He broke away from her after a minute or two, and looked at her pain filled face.

"I'm sorry...I wasn't able to protect you..." Yuan whispered in her ear, placing his forehead on top of hers.

**Me: Now the question is if I killed Scarlett.**

**Nari: Of course you didn't - ohmygoddess, are you CRYING?**

**Me: NO!**

**Nari: Yes, you are!**

**Me: NO, I'M NOT!**

**Nari: Read and review. -Yes, you are!**

**Me: SHUT UP!!!!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Me: Sorry I didn't update when I should've.**

**Nari: What's gonna happen to Scarlett? Did you kill her?**

**Me: I guess you'll find out in this chap.**

**Nari: ...Have I ever said how much I HATE YOU?**

**Me: Yes.**

**Nari: Really? When?**

**Me: Just now.**

**Nari: (Grumbles) SylphWindDancer owns nothing. Just alot of her created characters - including me - and she doesn't own ToS.**

**Me: You forgot the other thing!**

**Nari: Oh, I'll say it later!**

Chapter 6: Save the One you Love...

Yuan felt a small piece of his heart go missing. Scarlett still had a pulse, but it was so faint, it didn't seem like it could've been quieter. "I won't give up on you." Yuan murmured, stray tears freeing themselves from his watery eyes. "Please...come back."

Lloyd shut his eyes, looking away as he comforted his mother and sister. After almost ten minutes, Nari and Sheena came looking for them. They found out after going to the roof, and couldn't say anything. "...But...are you sure...she's de-" Nari whispered.

"She can't be." Kratos bit out with his voice filled with sad emotion.

They all then heard the same voices. _"Dead...curse...creatures...death...attack!"_

Nari felt her body go numb, as did Sheena. They tried to move, but couldn't. Someone had control of their bodies. Nari's hand went over to her whip as Sheena's hands drew her cards. Nari attempted to warn Lloyd, but she couldn't in time. Her hand with her whip, under someone else's command, flew towards Lloyd's head, striking him. He turned around and saw his attacker. "Nari? What're you doing?"

"It's not me!" she cried, her hands raising once more for an attack. Sheena ran forward to Kratos and Yuan, telling them that someone had control of their bodies as she was hitting Yuan. Kratos ran in front, guarding his friend and daughter from Sheena - or whoever had control of her.

Nari used her whip, wrapping it around Lloyd's swords, yanking them out of his reach. Lloyd growled in his throat. Nari then turned to face Kratos, and she did the same. She had her whip wrap around his sword, then she threw it over the edge. _"No weapon...hehehe, what will you do now?" _the voice cackled.

"Who are you?!" Celeste demanded, her hand slowly working its way to her sword so the two wouldn't notice.

_"Why would a weakling like you bother to know my name? You know me. I know you. Yet...you don't know me. Not this way."_

"Are you the one who's been watching us?" Lloyd growled.

_"That I am."_

"Why? Why are you-"

Lloyd was cut off by Yuan exploding, "Why did you do this to Scarlett?! What did she ever do to you?!"

_"She assisted in my death."_

"WHO ARE YOU?!!?!" Yuan screamed, his Double Edged Saber in his hand, ready for revenge.

_"Why don't you ask you dear beloved? She's only right there."_

They all frowned as Sheena's cards and Nari's whip were ready. One strike, and they were history. Yuan, not afraid, looked down at Scarlett. Her eyes were closed, but she was in deep pain. Her face expressed her feelings, unlike many other people. She tried to never hold her feelings back; whatever she know felt, you could tell by her face. Yuan mouthed her name silently, wondering why the person - if it _was _human - did this to her, out of all people.

_Why?_

Yuan and Kratos then held their breath after seeing her face once more.

Her eyes were slowly opening.

"Sca...Scarlett?" Yuan whispered.

_"No! This isn't Scarlett! This is the phoenix that lives on inside of her. It's biggest desire: to rule the worlds! Say hello, guys."_

"No...Scarlett, can you hear me?" Kratos asked.

Scarlett blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked at her father. "...Yes, I can hear you, Dad." she nodded, acting as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She then stood up, looking around at her surroundings.

"Are you...okay?" Lloyd asked, feeling dumbfounded. How could she be alright after blood kept flowing from her brain, with no wound to speak of?

"I...dunno. By the way, why are Sheena and Nari threatening to kill you?" Scarlett frowned.

As if to answer, the two felt their bodies return to the way they always were. They belonged, once again, to it's rightful owners. They took their stances away, and Scarlett kept her frowning face on. "Why...what were they doing?" And her eyes turned black.

She drew Thunderclap, her Double Edged Saber, and she raced towards Sheena first. Just in time, Sheena blocked with her cards, twisting so that she had room to backflip off the roof. Scarlett summoned her wings, following her down, murder on her face.

"Wait, Scarlett! What's wrong with you?!" Yuan cried, following them.

"Absolutly nothing!" Scarlett howled, slashing at both Sheena and Yuan.

"Stop this, Scarlett! I don't want to fight you!" Sheena snapped, still guarding.

"Scarlett! I know you hear me!" Yuan insisted.

The others jumped off the roof, gathered up their weapons, and guarding against her mercyless attacks, trying to talk sense back into her. Nothing they say would work. Her eyes would remain black, but in certain lighting, they looked auburn, like they always did.

As always, Yuan noticed this.

"Scarlett, I know you're in there!" he called, "Don't give in like this!"

Scarlett twirled around, clanking weapons with all of them at once. She didn't even see who she was fighting. That was how she fought - blindly. The others made a circle around the girl, and she backflipped right out, taking the battle to the skies.

The angels all pulled forth their wings, Sheena cursing because she didn't have wings. _Wait...I may not have wings, but I have the summon spirits!_

"I call upon the heavenly messangers...I summon thee...come, Sylph!" Sheena chanted.

The three woman like summon spirits came forth, asking, "Whadda need?"

"Give me the ability to fly!" Sheena requested.

"Humans these days..." Yutis sighed, the three circling her, holding their weapons up. They chanted, and on Sheena's back, came two wings that were see through with a green tinge.

Yutis warned, "It may last only for about an hour, so don't take too long."

"Alright, thanks!" Sheena grinned, taking off, trying out her wings.

Up in the high atmosphere, Scarlett was pretty much losing her power. She was still fending them off, but not as fast. They were extremly high in the air, and it was hard to find fresh air to breathe. "Scarlett, please, stop this!" Anna pleaded.

"No...no...the voices...they won't stop." Scarlett whispered, still swinging Thunderclap, even though her eyes were auburn momentarily.

"What voices?" Lloyd questioned.

_"His _voice...he won't stop haunting me..." she murmured.

_"Who's _voice?" Celeste asked.

"The one we were supposed to've killed..."

_"Who?!" _Yuan shouted.

Scarlett eyes turned back to black. "You don't care!" and she flew towards Yuan. He blocked her, spinning around to see her holding Thunderclap at his throat. "You wanna see a taste of my power?" she grinned.

Yuan held his breath, "No."

"Too bad." and Scarlett flung Thunderclap into the ground, far below, in the forest. A loud explosion was heard and fire flew up. "I can do anything if I put a mind to it now."

_This is it. This is the only way to catch her._

"I love you, Scarlett."

"What?"

"Forgive me!"

"AHHH!"

* * *

Yuka fell to her knees inside the house. She clutched her stomach.

"Yuka!" everyone cried.

"What's wrong?" Raine demanded, "Tell me!"

Yuka was panting. She couldn't find her breath. She then brought a fist to her chest, her other hand going over a certain area on her stomach. "Yu...Yuan..." she coughed before hitting the floor.

James snapped, "We have to find Yuan! Now! Spread out!"

"Dad...Mom..." the twins whispered along with Athena.

Everyone ran outside - Raine still inside tending to Yuka - spreading out as far as they could. A few even ran next door to ask if they saw anything strange. All they got was, "I saw that girl with long red hair walking up the hill to the backyard, and that's all I saw. But then, I heard loud explosions. Why? Did something happen?"

Using this information, they ran up to the barn, following the found footprints. The followed them until they got to the barn roof, not finding anything out of the ordanairy...until they found the blood from Scarlett's head. They froze before calling their names, hoping this was a prank or something.

Nobody answered.

All they heard was a loud explosion and a 'foom!' (sorry, I suck at explaining noises)

They looked around, finding an area of snow that'd been disturbed by something. They ran over, examining it. Noishe got there first, holding his breath.

Scarlett was laying in the bottom of a crater, lifeless.

The others got there. The twins and Athena didn't even try to hold back tears. They ran to the lifeless woman, hugging her, sobbing gravely.

The group then saw a flash of light. The ones that fought Scarlett landing, tears on all of their faces.

"What happened?" choked Colette.

Nari sobbed, "Yuan...he...had no...other choice...she would've...he..."

She couldn't any more out than that. She barried her face in her hands, tears flowing. Yuan walked forward, weakly. He walked to the bottom of the crater, hugging his children, not feeling like he could go on. He let go of his children, and them, feeling their father's vibe, left the crater to join the others at the top. Yuan gently stroked her face, feeling for a pulse.

Nothing.

"DAMMIT!" Yuan shouted.

"Yuan..." breathed Celeste.

"What?" he snapped harshly.

"Look." and he looked at his sister-in-law. She was pointing to a strange creature approaching. Something familiar...it tugged in the back of his mind. It looked like...Yuka.

It had yellow wings, similar to angel wings. It was female, and had Yuka's face. She was dressed in a white dress, a blue light emitting around her.

"Y..Yuka?" Yuan whispered, walking out of the crater.

Yuka's voice seemed to echo quietly, her voice, gentle. _"Yuan...it is time. Scarlett has left this world."_

"How can you say it so simply?!" Yuan roared, the others clearing room for the two to walk closer together.

_"It is the truth. You just don't want to accept it."_

"I...I know."

Yuan fell to his knees, sobbing quietly. Yuka approached her brother, placing a warm hand on his forehead. _"Go ahead and transform."_ Yuka whispered.

"W...what?" Yuan muttered. His body felt like it was stretching. A blue light engulfed him and his sister. After a few moments, it faded.

What used to be Yuan, stood...on four legs. Yuan now was a light brown and green _yoko._ He looked at himself. He then looked up at Yuka.

_"Is this what I am...a yoko?" _he breathed.

_"Correct. Now, I have to tell you Scarlett's last wish."_

_"What do you mean, her last wish? Did she speak telepathy through to you?"_

_"Yes. She asked me you tell you to cremate her."_

_"CREMATION?!"_

_"Yes. She said the gods and goddesses would bless you if you did."_

The others were still dumbfounded at this sudden ordeal. So...Yuka was a fairy and Yuan was a yoko. Strange.

Yuan walked back to Scarlett, Yuka following, then stopping at the halfway point in the crater.

_"If you want to honor her, you'll do as she asked." _Yuka soothed quietly so only he could hear.

_"I'll...I'll think about it."_

**Me: WAAAHHHH!**

**Nari: NOOOOOO!**

**Me: WAAAHHHH!**

**Nari: Okay, enough crying...**

**Me: BUT I KILLED MY OWN CHARACTER!!!!! T.T**

**Nari: Well...aside from telling the people to read and review, I should tell them that you're planning on getting a DevianArt account.**

**Me: Sniff...yeah...sniff...**

**Nari: ...TT But...wait...don't-**

**Me: SHUT UP! YOU'LL RUIN IT ALL!!! I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I _KILLED_ MY OWN CHARACTER!!!!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Me: Sniffle...**

**Nari: WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?! YOU'RE GRINNING, _AND_ YOU'RE CRYING! YOU'RE MESSED UP! TELL ME, WHAT IS GOING OOONNNNNN?!!?!??!!**

**Me: ...I'm thinking, and it's almost my b-day, so I'm happy. I get to invite at least one person, yay! **

**Nari: ...ONE person?**

**Me: My parents don't have the money for parties and such, so we get to invite people over when we're thirteen and older.**

**Nari: ...Oh. SylphWindDancer - who IS ABOUT TO TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON - owns nothing.**

Chapter 7: Flames of the Phoenix...

Yuka and Yuan changed back after some time, and they all returned to the house, spirits dampened, almost extenguished.

The twins and Athena were sobbing, their faces red with sadness, the whole way back to the house. Even the dogs and Starlitt seemed depressed. The entire world seemed to have stopped and held its breath for Scarlett Renne Aurion's death.

"Mom isn't...really gone, is she?" Athena prayed.

"I'm sorry, but...she is." Presea whispered, hugging the child close when they were sitting in the den. Blood was stained on Scarlett and Yuan's clothes...from what he had done.

----

_"No...no...the voices...they won't stop." Scarlett whispered, still swinging Thunderclap, even though her eyes were auburn momentarily._

_"What voices?" Lloyd questioned._

_"His voice...he won't stop haunting me..." she murmured._

_"Who's voice?" Celeste asked._

_"The one we were supposed to've killed..."_

_"Who?!" Yuan shouted._

_Scarlett eyes turned back to black. "You don't care!" and she flew towards Yuan. He blocked her, spinning around to see her holding Thunderclap at his throat. "You wanna see a taste of my power?" she grinned._

_Yuan held his breath, "No."_

_"Too bad." and Scarlett flung Thunderclap into the ground, far below, in the forest. A loud explosion was heard and fire flew up. "I can do anything - literally - if I put a mind to it now."_

_**This is it. This is the only way to catch her.**_

_"I love you, Scarlett."_

_"What?"_

_"Forgive me!"_

_"AHHH!"_

_Yuan had rammed his Double Edged Saber - Kaze - into his wife's ribcage. It killed her in a few seconds. Before she passed over, she raised a weak hand to her husband's face, which was filled with tears, and whispered, "I love you...and the...children...keep th...em...close...I...love...all...of...you..."_

_She fell, crashing into the ground._

_Yuan looked at Kaze, stained with his wife's blood. He threw it. He wouldn't - couldn't - keep it._

_"SCARLETT!!!!" he screamed, his hands flying to his head, stained with stray blood drops._

----

**Yuan's POV**

_I have to find the killer...whoever it was that made me do this to her...but...what and who did this? She said she could've done anything...and she said literally...I wonder if she meant that. _I pondered, my heart wrenching tighter at the thought of my dead wife.

"Yuan?" came Sabrina's gentle voice, "Are you going to cremate her like she asked you to?"

"I don't...know. I'm thinking, though..." I answered quietly.

"I see." she murmured.

_Cremation...why would she want me to do that? Huh. Strange last request... _

I looked at my father, "What should I do, Dad?"

Dad looked at me with gentle, yet harsh eyes, "It is up to you. Personally, I think you should respect her last wish."

I thought about his answer deeply. _I do want to respect her and have her last wish carried out, but...argh! I don't know what to do!_

**Normal POV**

They all sat around, grieving over their loss. Especially since the group w_as_ each other's family, so it was like losing a sister and mother.

And wife.

And daughter.

It was all too complecated.

_Why did she have to die? Big sis...I love you...I need you to help me through things...I want you to be here when Theron and I get married properly under your supervision. WHY?! _Celeste cried in her mind, biting her lip hard.

Lloyd had similar thoughts of why she had to die. _Dang it, Scarlett. I wasn't there to help you again...just like when Colette was taken away by the Cruxis and her illness. I always feel guilty about not being there...you know that!_

Yuan then asked out loud, "What do you guys think I should do? I want to respect this, but..."

They all answered, like it was the most obvious thing: "You should do it."

"Yes, I know, but-"

"There is no 'but.'" Renne snapped, tears still falling from her face.

"Renne..." Yuan muttered. Yes. He would do it. Not for only Scarlett, but for his children, as well. "Okay. I'll do it."

Nobody said anything; they only nodded their aprovement, watching Yuan walk over to his deceased wife. Yuan grasped her cold, lifeless hand, whispering, "I'll do it for you, Scarlett...and for the children, Kratos, Anna, everyone. I still can't understand why you left me like that...you could've fought that voice. I know you could've. Or...were you holding back? What was it?"

Athena walked up to her foster father, hugging him from behind around the neck. She muttered in his ear, "I sense that the gods and goddesses will truly be happy once they accept Mom forever. I can feel her happiness."

"Who's?" Yuan asked.

"...Mom's." Athena smiled weakly.

"...Yeah, I guess I do, too. Thanks, Athena." Yuan nodded.

Yes...yes, Yuan did feel something...warmth. Happiness. Yet, it was sad. Was there such a feeling? Happiness mixed with sadness? Maybe it _was _Scarlett's spirit...or something else.

_A few days later..._

Yuan and the group including the earthlings and the elf stood in a cremation room, hoods over their heads, watching Scarlett being placed on firewood and oil. Yuan and the group all kissed her good-bye and farewell, hoping they'd meet again in the afterlife.

They took a torch, and lit it.

Yuan didn't feel the hot tears trail down his cheek, flowing from his eyes. He didn't want to lose his wife, or any member of his family, at that. _Why, Scarlett? Why did you make me do that? I loved you, as did your children, father, mother, brother, sister, and everyone else. Why did you sacrifice yourself?_

Yuan felt a warm light engulf him and he was then, looking up.

"Here, Yuan..." Yuka whispered, kneeling down.

Yuan figured it out. Whenever they grow weak or feel much pain at once, they must transform into their animal spirits - or if the spirits feel sad, as well. He was in his sisters arms so he could watch Scarlett burn to ashes. Tears were staining everyone's faces, nobody forcing them to stop. They simply flowed.

They stood for about five more minutes when something happened.

Yuan had shut his eyes out of pain. -He couldn't watch Scarlett burn anymore than he already had. It was too painful.

That is, until, he heard everyone gasp, and Yuka tapped him, "Yuan, look."

Yuan opened his eyes, and his emerald eyes were filled with shock.

The flames surrounding Scarlett were dancing around the room, trying to form something strange. Their orange, red, blue, and colors flew around, gathering more heat in the room, making it over one hundred degrees.

"Wha...what the-" Lloyd muttered, but stopped in mid-sentence as the flames blew by his head, making him release a curse.

Yuan saw the flames take the form of a bird like figure, then he saw the wings piece together. "Duh!" Noishe exclaimed, smacking his head, "I remember what one of my friends told me! He was a yoko, and he said that pheonixes are a rare breed because of their specialties: they are reborn from the ashes of their own! The-"

Presea cut him off by muttering, "They're always burned when they die, they catch fire until their ashes are left, then they are reborn."

"Exactly." Noishe pointed at her, nodding.

"So...that means that the phoenix inside Scarlett is...helping her to be reborn?" Celeste asked, confused.

"Maybe. That could be the only explanation, though." Noishe replied.

They then stood in silence after a few more questions, watching the flames of the phoenix fall on what was left of Scarlett's body, engulfing her, blinding everyone else. Yuan squinted against the light. He couldn't look away. Nothing must go wrong. One thing wrong, and...who knows what would happen.

The light finally faded, and everyone looked back at the table.

The _empty _table.

Scarlett was gone.

**Me: AHHHH!!!! THAT WASN'T IN THE PLAN!**

**Nari: WHAT WAS THE PLAN?!**

**Me: THAT SHE'D BE THERE, THEY'D GET RID OF TOBIAS, AND THEY'D LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!**

**Nari: But then there'd be no story.**

**Me: YES, THERE WOULD BE!!**

**Nari: O...Okay, take a chill pill. Read and review. Sylphy needs inspriation to keep up, so please review. She said she'll give you a cookie made by Kratos.**

**Kratos: ...I did not get a say in this.**

**Nari: Oh, well. Too late.**

**Kratos: What did I do to deserve this?**

**Nari: Well, you did betray Lloyd-**

**Kratos: And then I returned.**

**Nari: -you killed Anna.**

**Kratos: She got revived.**

**Nari: -you didn't tell your children they were family until...chapter seven of Past Times-**

**Kratos: SHUT UP! I GET IT! ...Wait, how did you know about that?**

**Nari: Funny you say that...heh. I have my resources.**

**Kratos: What resources?**

**Nari: Sylphy.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Me: I'm sorry, but this is a short chapter.**

**Nari: Hopeless.**

**Me: Hey! I'm at a writer's block!**

**Nari: Whatever. SylphWindDancer owns nothing.**

Chapter 8: Residents of Paradise...

"Scarlett!!" Yuan screamed. _How?! What went wrong?! Where is she?!_

"What the hell just happened?" Lloyd demanded.

"I have no idea." Hazel admitted.

Yuan thought hard about this. The piece that'd gone missing from his heart had another huge chunk disappear. His wife was supposed to be resurrected, and she vanished, instead. What had happened?!

He did the only thing he could think of, "C'mon! Maybe she tranported to the house!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Anna agreed.

They ran to the house, some even flying, not caring about the humans seeing. Right now, the only person that mattered was Scarlett - that was how everyone felt. The house finally came into sight, and they busted through the door, not bothering to put their wings away, "SCARLETT! ARE YOU HERE?!" Kratos demanded.

Sabrina had been watching the house alone, and she saw the others burst in. "What? What's wrong?"

They told her about everything that happened while Scarlett was undergoing cremation, not leaving a detail out. Sabrina was just as shocked. She could hardly even say anything, "I...don't know of anywhere that she could've transported to. I'm sorry...actually, if she's not in the woods, try the closest church here."

"Right. Let's split up." Zelos nodded.

They agreed and picked random groups, Sabrina saying she'd stay in case anythimg came up. Yuan decided to go in the woods with several others. So, they flew up through the trees, landing on the rooftops of treehouses, looking inside for her, asking if anyone had seen her. Unfortunatly, they all said no. Only one small boy had reported, "I saw a pretty flash of light...that way." and he pointed west.

"Thanks." Nari grinned, and told them the news. They all began flying west, not ready for what they were about to find.

----

"This is the closest church." Myrtle whispered, opening the door. "It's Sunday, so we better hurry up. The crowd isn't here yet. I'm not sure why Mom said church, but...c'mon, we better hurry."

The group all hurried, looking in doors, and such, before concluding she wasn't here either. "Man, _where_ could she've gone?" Genis grumbled, geting more and more worried.

"I know Mom's alright." Renne snapped, putting a hand on Genis's heart, "Can't you feel her, too?"

Genis thought about what she was saying, and nodded, "Yeah...I guess I do."

"Then she's not dead." Rylan frowned, "She's alive."

Athena rechecked all the corners of the church again. "Maybe Dad and the others found her. And we just don't know it."

"I dunno. Either way, we should head back." Mahala gestured, "The guests are getting here. We'll be in trouble since we're in the forbidden corner of the church. Let's go."

They tip-toed out the back door, and ran back down the street to the house. They opened the door and asked Sabrina if they'd come back yet. Sabrina sadly answered 'no.'

They went out to the woods, asking if the survivors had seen them. The little boy told them the same thing as he'd told Nari. Another flash of yellow, purple, and red light was seen. Using this, the angels went ahead, leaving the earthlings with the people, and the wingless ones left to follow on foot. They all flew on ahead through the woods, calling the names of the other group.

Colette sadly whispered, "I hope the others have found her. I hope nothing serious happened to her."

"We all hope." Mithos nodded.

They continued until they found the others, flying motionlessly, hovering in the air, looking down.

"Kratos! Yuan, Lloyd!" Did you guys find her?" Mithos called.

Yuan frowned, "We did...and yet...we didn't."

"Whadda mean?" Anna inquired, flying beside her husband.

The ones on the ground stood, mouths gaping, "Holy crap." Raine blinked.

The group was standing/flying right above a valley full of phoenixes.

"How the heck is that possible?" Renne asked.

"They might be illusions." Regal grunted.

"Let's find out." Lloyd drew his swords, and sent out a shockwave with his sword. It hit a large phoenix, and it squacked before looking up dangerously at Lloyd.

"I don't think that was good..." Sheena muttered.

The phoenix opened it's mouth, and sent a fireball at Lloyd, which barely missed him. He cursed, "I think we're gonna have a hard time here."

"No, really, ya think?" Noishe frowned.

Nari suggested, "Maybe they're under a spell, except for Scarlett."

"But how do we know Scarlett's even here?" Presea questioned, eyeing the phoenixes.

"We don't. We have to find out." Zelos answered the girl.

"_How?_" the pink head bugged.

"Like so." Nari grinned, cracking her whip, and sending out large balls of Mana. "There's only one who wouldn't attack us."

"Then let's go! Let's-" Kratos was cut off by a phoenix screeching, "Leave this place at once! Thou have no buisness here! Leave thee be!"

"We only want to know if there's one specific phoenix amongst you!" Anna cried.

"What is their name?"

"Scarlett!"

The birds talked quietly among themselves, asking if there was anyone there with that name. They concluded, "No. Now leave."

"Are you sure?" Rylan gritted his teeth.

"AHHH!!!"

They were now running from demonic, angry phoenixes that were blasting them all with magic. "WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY! WWWEEE'RRREEEE SSSSOOOORRRRRYYYYYY!!!!" Athena screamed, running as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Thoust wouldn't leave, so thee shalt depart thy!" they screeched.

"WE SAID WE WERE SORRY!" Mithos yelled, dodging more balls of fire.

"Thee are residents of what was once paradise! Leave us back in peace!"

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE'RE DOING?!" Nari demanded, circling in the air to dodge a phoenix right on her tail. Suddenly, inside, she felt hot and cold at the same time. "What the?-" she muttered before a silver light engulfed her. It stopped everyone, including the birds, in their tracks as they looked up at her. When the light faded, in Nari's place, was a long dragon that was slate colored with a red stomach, and her eyes were the same. She had long claws, but was a wingless dragon. She looked at her claws, examining them. She then looked down, eyeing the birds.

They squacked, before flying in the opposite directiong, back towards the valley where they used to be.

Nari's voice rumbled, "Wow. I like this."

Everyone twitched just as they all got an idea.

"What do I look like, an express pony?" Nari demanded, looking at the others on her back as she flew back to the house.

"Well, either way..." Kratos snapped, "We have to continune our search tomorrow, when it's light out. It's starting to get dark."

"Yeah." they agreed, landing by the treehouses.

---

Back on Symphonia, Theron was walking down his lair's hallways, instructing a soldier, "She's back in Symphonia. I want you to find her, and capture her - alive. I want her to have a miserable life for as long as she's alive. Where was it you spotted her?"

The soldier answered firmly, "Collasped in the snow near Flanoir, sir!"

"Good. Get her. Soon enough, I will have the queen of Derris-Kharlan in my prisons." Theron laughed.

**Me: End chapter eight.**

**Nari: What kind of an ending was that? Who's the queen?**

**Me: Who indeed.**

**Nari: Read and review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Me: It's been so long since I updated this...**

**Nari: It'll be alright. ...Maybe.**

**Me: Thanks. I feel SSOO much better.**

**Nari: Sylphy owns nothing.**

**Me: Why? Why are all my people saying that?...**

Chapter 9: The Two Queens...

Yuan didn't sleep well that night. His wife was missing, and his heart felt like it left his body. He felt dead without Scarlett's warmth and smile and laugh. What would've - could've - happened to her? There were no leads, except bruises from rabid phoenixes. There weren't even any help. He sighed, turning again. He stood up, and walked outside on the 'porch.' He looked up at the skies filled with stars. Red, blue, even some silver and pink. He frowned. How long had it been since he got feelings back? How long had it been since he could sleep? ...A long time.

"Dad?..." Athena murmured, walking outside, beside him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just...looking at the stars." Yuan assured.

Athena, however, was not fooled. "I know you're worried about Mom. We all are. Time will tell if she's alright, even though I know she is."

"...You're right." Yuan hugged her with his arm. "Thanks."

Athena smiled, "You know, while we're here...Don't you think that this world is more peaceful than Symphonia?"

"Why? Do you not want to go back?"

"No, I want to...I was just...asking."

"Well, in a way, yes, it is, but...this world isn't as pure, and there may be no violence, but it kind of feels weird without it. Especially when you're as old as me."

Athena giggled, "Well, can I sit out here with you?"

"Sure."

Athena sat beside her father as she asked, "Dad...are there ever moments when you want to just...run away and correct your mistakes?"

"...Yeah, there have been." Yuan frowned as he thought about the deadly night of blood.

**Flashback**

**Yuan, Martel, Mithos, and Kratos were each running silently in the woods. They'd just rescued Mithos and Martel from a horrid fate after they'd be captured. They were hunted men, anyway.**

**Kratos heard a twig snap behind them and he turned to face someone. He snapped, "Watch out!" and he pushed Martel out of the path of an arrow.**

**"Oh!" Martel gasped as the mercenary got up, "Thanks, Kratos."**

**Kratos was about to reply, but a arrow flew onto the back of his shoulder. He groaned loudly in pain as he went ahead and pulled it out. "Kratos! Are you okay?" Mithos questioned as he saw Yuan run into the woods, and slice at someone.**

**Kratos healed his back and looked at the arrow tip that was red with blood, "I'll...be okay." Kratos sighed, throwing the tip down.**

**The next morning, they walked out on the trail freely as they inhaled the fresh morning of peace. Until...**

**A woman approached them: Zora, as they now knew.**

**She acted like she was sick, begging for help. Martel, just like Colette, ran up, concerned for the health of others. She began to heal her with her staff when she let out a sharp cry of pain. Zora stuck her sword through Martel's body.**

**"MARTEL!" Yuan cried, running by her side, ignoring the murderer for the time being.**

**Kratos kept his eyes on the woman and drew his sword, "What the hell did you do that for?!" Mithos demanded, tears flying.**

**Zora had not replied and Kratos, Mithos, and Yuan got up and casted, "This is for Martel! JUDGMENT!"**

**End flashback**

"Yeah, there have been. I could've protected someone important to me." Yuan shut his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore.

"I'm sorry..." Athena muttered before something else happened.

Her eyes began to glow, and Yuan nearly fell back as he saw his 'daughter' begin to glow. She stood, her voice distorted, _"Strange one, vision of death...Cousin of pain."_

"Athena? What's wrong?!" Yuan inquired firmly, "What's the matter?"

Zeki, inside his house, heard this, and ran outside. He froze in terror as he saw what was wrong with his cousin. He remembered what had happened with his aunt.

**Flashback**

**Something had hit Scarlett and Yuan, sending them flying into the ground...**

_**"It seems that they're somehow hurt on the insides." Raine reported, "I can't treat them properly here."**_

_**Scarlett's body suddenly began glowing with a white aura engulfing her. She began floating. Her eyes snapped open, her voice distorted, **__**"Building. Death. No emotion. Torture."**__** she said.**_

_**"What? Scarlett, what's wrong?" Zelos asked, confused.**_

_**"Children. Bait. Black Wings. Mask. Mizuho. Earth."**__** Scarlett continued.**_

_**"It's most likely the power of her visions!" Kratos told them, "It's the Songs of the Dead."**_

_**"What about Mizuho?" Sheena demanded.**_

_**"Athena. Renne. Rylan. Tortured. Screams. Summon Spirits."**_

_**"Okay, she's obviously trying to tell us something, but I have no clue what." Anna frowned.**_

_**"Surrounded. Knights of the dark. Dragons. Monsters. Demons."**_

_**There were lots of rustling in the bushes, and the group was tense.**_

_**"I see your future, young one."**__** and Scarlett looked down at Zeki, **__**"Pain. Suffering. Separation of and from family. Clouded. Blank. Strange. Hard attempts of rescue. Sweat. Death. Prevent this."**_

_**"What are you talking about, Aunt Scarlett?" Zeki cried, "I don't understand!"**_

_**"Prevent it. Find the Blue Storm. In the eyes, you shall find your destiny, written."**_

**End flashback**

Zeki walked up to Athena, and asked, "Athena? What about a cousin of pain?"

Yuan looked at his nephew, and looked back at Athena, who was looking down at Zeki. _"You. Cousin of pain. Blue Storm is your destiny. Either it will control you or you will control it."_

"What is Blue Storm?"

_"A demonic kantana. Life is what whields it. Queens shall guide you."_

"Queens? Who?"

_"The queens of Derris-Kharlan and Earth. I see her."_

Yuan held his breath. Was she talking about Scarlett?

_"Bars. Snow. Laughing. A man. Nearly lifeless. No energy. Not human."_

"Who? Aunt Scarlett?"

_"Phoenix of life and death."_

Those were her last words before her eyes returned to normal. Athena held her head and asked, "What?...What just happened?"

Yuan thought about it, and concluded, "Your name, Athena, means the goddess of wisdom, so that may have something to do with it."

"..." Athena stared blankly at her father and saw Zeki standing, beads of sweat on his forehead. "Zeki?...Is anything wrong?"

Zeki simply ran back inside to his treehouse, panting for breath. Athena was about to run after him, but her father held her back, "He'll be alright later. For now, just give him some space."

Athena nodded silently, worried for her cousin.

----

_On Symphonia..._

"Sir! We have captured her." a soldier saluted in front of Theron.

He chuckled, "At last...I will finally have my prize. Take me to her. Be gentle with her, now. The phoenixes now live on Earth. She's the only one on Symphonia."

"Yes, sir!"

The soldier led Theron to where a familiar bird of flames was being held in a fire resistant and anti-magic room. She was throwing a tantrum, blowing fire and casting magic. She was doing anything possible to break free.

"Now, now, Scarlett, dear. Do be careful not to strain anything, will you?" Theron begged.

"You can't keep me in here forever! We die when that happens. More than one month in a cage, and you'll have nothing." Scarlett snapped harshly.

"Then I better not wait a month, right?"

"I'd rather die then serve you, or have anything to do with you other than your death!"

"Hey, now, be nice to your master."

"Master?! Are you drunk or something? I know Yuan and everyone is coming to get me!"

"Kinda hard to, especially if they're on a whole other planet and can't get back."

"Well...remember how our time demintions are entirely different? We could be here for a week and about two to three weeks will have passed there."

Theron growled, at a loss of words. He snapped and walked away.

_Well...I'm safe...for now. Please hurry, Yuan. I can't talk to you while I'm caged like this, so I can't help you this time. Be careful._

----

_On Earth..._

"Dear GODDESS! I can't even think while you're PLAYING THAT FRIGGIN GAME TO _THINK!" _bellowed Nari, flipping the switch on Zelos, cutting the Gamecube off.

"HEY! I was playing Zelda: Twilight Princess!" Zelos whined, "I need to think, and I can't fight with my sword on Earth, so I take it out on the video games!"

"I don't care!"

"Well, I do!"

"I don't!"

"I do!"

"I DON'T!"

"I DO!"

"SHUT UP, FOR LOVE OF MANA!"

Everyone stared over at Kratos, his face fuming red with anger. "Just...shut...up." he growled.

They all, indeed, did, cowering before the Seraph. They were all attempting to think of any way to get Origin back to his regular form, but no one could think of any solution.

Yuan frowned, _So...she IS alive, but how are we going to get to Symphonia to save her? Dammit..._

Athena went over to her father, and murmured, "Is Mom gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. Mom's gonna be okay." Yuan nodded, false courage in his voice.

Athena sighed deeply, and sat down on a couch, Zelos and Nari having a staring contest. Zelos's hand made it's way to the power button and the 'G' bounced and twirled around on the screen. Nari groaned in frustration, and threw her arms in the air, giving up. Zelos played Link through the game, swinging his sword at monsters, taking out his anger on the video game.

They all exchanged uncertain glances at each other, not sure of what to say. Especially after the mad angel that exploded moments ago. Yuka sighed, "I'm going outside. I need some air." and she bundled up a little, opened the door, and walked out in the frigid air.

She sat down on the snowy porch steps, and looked up at the sky. "What's gonna happen? We can't get to Symphonia, and for all we know, Scarlett may be dead. Man. This sucks. I feel so worthless. Like...a doll used too much, and getting thrown out.

"What's gonna happen to us now?"

----

Scarlett stood from her sitting position, seeing Theron walk back in. He sighed, "Please, let me apologize. Your highness..."

Scarlett flinched, wishing he didn't find out. She asked, "Who's the other Queen?"

"Why, none other than your foster daughter. She likes Earth better. There's not as much violence, and she fits in."

"You lie!"

"I lie not."

"Let me out of here!!"

"No."

"AAHHH!"

**Nari: Uh-unh. You ain't ending it there.**

**Me: But I am.**

**Nari: But you can't.**

**Me: But I did.**

**Nari: Shut up. Read and review, please.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Me: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I give many thanks to my first reviewers!**

**Nari: She greatly appreciates it. (hands out cookies and 'long live ToS!' towels)**

**Me: Please lemme know if you like this chapter.**

**Nari: If not, it will be burned.**

**Me: ...No, seriously. We're gonna throw it in the fire.**

Chapter 10: A Different Way...

Yuan had been pacing back and forth once more, wishing with all his heart that he could find a way to get back to Symphonia. If only Origin hadn't mysteriously lost his power, everything could've been sorted out better. They could've been in Symphonia right now, rescuing the angel. Yuka had gone to his side many times to try and assure him that they'd find SOME way to get back ASAP.

But he couldn't be convinced with what little hope he had.

Some of the Eternal Swordsman's group would take turns going out and walking around the forest to look for clues to the man who'd taken over Scarlett, since the voice didn't seem like it was Theron's. They'd walk out back and check out the survivors to be sure they weren't getting sick or dying or anything like that.

While Yuan, Yuka, Nari, and Lloyd were taking a walk...

Nari sighed loudly, "I'm sooo cold."

"Then why'd you come?" Lloyd retorted.

"Because. I felt like it. Gotta problem with that?" Nari snapped.

"Nope."

They were walking back from the tree houses, and Lloyd heard a faint voice, _"Master of the pact..."_

Lloyd burst, stopping in his tracks, "Origin?!"

Yuan looked back at him, "Origin? What?"

Yuka raised an eyebrow, "Maybe he's losing it."

Lloyd hissed, "Quiet! I just heard Origin."

_"Master of the pact..."_

Nari stated, "Hey, I hear it, too!"

They all turned to their left, and saw Origin's faint glow and shape. _"Master Lloyd..."_

"Origin! I can see you! Well, kinda...What's going on?" Lloyd approached.

_"My power...is slowly returning..."_

"Really?!" Yuan bursted.

_"Yes. Before, it was only the children who could see me...now, you can see and hear me as well. I'd say in about a week, I may be back to full strength."_

"That's great!" Nari beamed, "Then we can rescue Scarlett soon!"

_"Until then..." _and Origin faded away.

"Mmmmmaaaannnn!" Lloyd whined, "A week's too long to wait!"

"You said it." Yuan groaned.

"Well, let's head back now." Yuka suggested.

"Chiiiirrrrp!" Bob shrilled.

They continued walking after Yuan zapped the bird with an electricity ball enough until it satisfied him.

They were almost at the house when Nari snapped, "Wait a minute."

The other three looked at her, asking, "What is it?"

"Someone's following us." she whispered.

Yuka casually turned around, looking behind them, "I don't see anyone."

"I hear 'em, though." Nari looked around, not caring about being casual anymore.

"I don't hear anything..." Lloyd frowned.

"Because he stopped moving." Nari took a step forward, "Wait...I hear him."

She walked forward, her whip in her hand, coiled up, and the others watched her and her surroundings in case the person tried a sneak attack. A hand flew out, and Nari flung her whip's end around the man's wrist. Her eyes went wide, and she lowered her whip, whispering something inaudible to even angel ears. Then, she got louder, "Andrew?...Is that really you?"

"It's me, Nari...I've been with the survivors all along, but I couldn't face you...but I can now." the man replied.

"I missed you, 'Drew...really bad. Where have you been?" Nari demanded.

Andrew stepped out from behind the tree, looking around 21, with midnight blue hair and sapphire eyes. Andrew looked at the three clueless angels standing in the snow, and he inquired, "Who are you?"

"Who are you to ask for my name?" Lloyd countered.

"I'll take it you're the Eternal Swordsman. I'm Andrew." Andrew stepped forward, offering a hand to shake with Lloyd. Lloyd hesitated, but shook it, "So...who are you to Nari?"

"I'm her boyfriend."

Yuan nearly gagged, and Nari slapped him, THEN hit him with her whip. She noticed Yuka wasn't surprised, and remembered that she hinted she had a man.

**"Yeah, but he doesn't like me." Nari a depressed look on her face.**

**"Who is it?" Raine asked, curiously.**

**"...Someone you don't know yet. That's all I'm gonna say." Nari answered.**

"You were lying then, weren't you?" Yuka asked.

"...Yeah." Nari blew on a strand of hair in her face.

Andrew looked back, and answered Nari, "I was in Meltokio, taking care of some stuff, and I was going to come back to you, but you weren't back at Luin."

"Theron got to me before you did." Nari hissed angrily, "But Yuie here-"

"What was that?!" Yuan barked.

"-helped me out."

"Stop turning into Anna!" Yuan ordered.

"Someone call?"

Anna stuck her head out the door, noticing another person. She blinked, and stared before reeling her head back in the house.

Lloyd snapped, "Well, can we go in or what? I'm hungry!"

"You and your stomach..." Yuka sighed, "C'mon."

**A few days later...**

Andrew had been introduced to the group, but for some reason, Kratos didn't like him all that well. Andrew had no clue way, but kept his distance. (he's smart) Nari and Celeste explained everything about what was going on with Scarlett, Theron, and Origin. Andrew sarcasticly pointed out, "So it's all LLOYD'S fault we're stranded here! I get it now!"

"Shut it, tough guy." Lloyd grumbled.

Mithos groaned, "Will you two cut it out? Andrew may have a point, but it IS hard to move a lot of people like that, ya' know..."

"Well, my bad." Andrew scoffed.

Nari randomly asked, "Do you guys have a guitar here?"

"Where'd that come from?" Genis blinked.

"I play bass guitar. 'Drew here-" Nari was interrupted by Andrew hissing, "Do NOT tell them. They'd act just like you did when you found out."

"What? Do you sing?" Colette inquired.

"NO!" Andrew backed away in horror.

"Drums?" guessed Mahala.

"No."

"Not flute, right?"

"NNNOOO!!! You cannot make me even try to play THAT...THING! Leave that to..." and he muttered someone's name.

"Keyboard?" came Athena's voice.

Andrew's eye twitched.

Everyone stared.

Andrew looked at the preteen, "I don't like you."

"I was just guessing!" Athena barked.

"Shoulda guessed somethin' else." Andrew muttered.

"Can we hear, can we hear?" bugged Rylan.

They began pestering Nari and Andrew to play a duet, and the two got fed up and agreed, saying, "FINE! ONLY IF YOU TWIRPS SHUT IT!"

The kids instantly shut up.

Sabrina gave Nari the guitar, and showed Andrew to the piano. He sat down, glared at the kids, and looked at Nari, who nodded her head, holding her pick. She muttered, "1, 2, ready, go."

Andrew began playing a soft and slow song as Nari picked at the strings, tying a song together. Then, after three minutes, Andrew made the song faster, turning it more...bouncy. Nari rapidly moved her hands over, remebering the chords to play. The two had written this song before. For who, they wouldn't say. Nari had just said, "I'll tell you after the song.'

At last, their hands froze on their last note, stringing it out. Finally, Nari put her hand on the strings to stop the note, and Andrew stood. Presea nodded her head, "That was a beautiful song."

"Yeah, it was." Zeki agreed, "Now who was it for?"

Nari sighed, "It was for my older brother."

"What's your brother's name?" asked Renne shyly.

"...Ryan."

"Where is he now?"

"I dunno. For all I know, he's trying to prove that Luin was invaded by monsters. -Back when it was destroyed by the Desians."

"Oh."

**One day before the week was up...**

Yuan paced, "Isn't Origin ready YET?!"

Raine stood and smacked Yuan across the face, Yuka twitching. "Yuan Nebular, you are going to sit DOWN because you have been asking that for the past HOUR!"

Yuan grumbled something about 'angels' and 'pained face' before sitting down, sighing deeply.

Fifteen minutes passed and no one said anything else.

"Won't someone say SOMETHING?" begged Hazel.

"Something." Nari sarcasticly replied.

"Gee, thanks." Hazel glared.

"No prob." the whip master grinned.

Lloyd came back in from outside, and reported, "Origin is definitly going to be ready tomorrow."

"He won't disappear again if we go, will he?" Athena worridly asked.

"Probably not. This was just a malfunction." Lloyd answered.

"Good."

"Well, let's get ready."

Everyone split up, and Zeki finished packing quickly. He approached Yuka, and tapped her, "Yuka?...I thought I saw someone outside earlier in the snow, setting some stuff outside with signs."

"Oh. Dude's just prob'ly just setting up a yard sale." Yuka replied. (yes, in the snow)

"Can I go look?" Zeki requested.

"Yeah, sure...here's some money in case you want something. Be careful." Yuka handed him a few dollars.

Zeki thanked her, bundled up, and walked outside, the bucks in his hands. He walked across the street (nearly getting hit by a cat and dog in the process), Irene trotted at his side. He patted her, and approached the man. He gruffly greeted, "Afternoon. If ya want somethin', bring it here."

"Y-yes, sir..."

Zeki looked around, spotting a sword in a blue sheath. He grew curious, and looked closer.

_Blue Storm._

His heart stopped.

This was Blue Storm, said to hold his destiny?! He instantly picked it up, shoving it towards the man, "How much?!" he begged.

"That ol' thing? I can't even get it out of it's sheath, it's so rusted. How 'bout just five bucks?"

Zeki handed him the five dollars, and rushed home with Irene, busting in the house, nearly running over his mother. He pushed it in her face, screaming, "Mom! Mom, it's Blue Storm! That katana that Aunt Scarlett was talking about! I bought it!"

Celeste put her hands on her son's shoulders, "Calm down, Zeki. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

Zeki quickly relayed everything.

"Oh, I see...but if the man said it was rusted, then..." Celeste gestured for the katana. She gripped it's silver grip, and pulled.

Nothing. It didn't even budge.

She shrugged and handed it back to Zeki, who attempted, too.

It came loose.

Zeki's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he pulled the katana out all the way. It had a metallic blue metal, connecting with the silver grip.

Andrew nodded, "Another katana user? You go, kid."

Zeki looked at him strangly, and he showed his katana's sheath. Zeki grinned, "Cool!"

Celeste sighed, "Why is he like Lloyd sometimes?..."

"HEY!" protested Lloyd and Zeki, "THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME/HIM!"

Then, they looked at each other, "Well...maybe there is." Zeki winced as Lloyd smacked his nephew.

**The next day...**

Lloyd and the group stepped outside, and they bid farewell to Sabrina, Mahala, Hazel, and Myrtle, and walked out to the woods, meeting up with the survivors.

Sheena summoned, "...Come, Origin!"

The King of Summon Spirits appeared, looking as if nothing happened. _"I am ready, pact master. I will not fail this time."_

"Then let's do it!"

Everyone got in a large circle, cramming into each other somewhat, and Lloyd drew forth the Eternal Sword. "Let's get it right this time!" Lloyd hissed.

_"Indeed. Ready?"_

"I was born ready."

_"Then let's do it."_

A bright light flashed, blinding everyone.

**Me: Now the question is if I got them there.**

**Nari: I hate you! You hear me? H-A-T-E!**

**Me: Aw, don't be hatin'. Be appreciatin'!**

**Nari: That was lame.**

**Andrew: Totally.**

**Me: Oh, thanks for reminding me! Andrew does not belong to me! He belongs to my sister's story, ****The Order of the Elements****, but his creator is Forceuser3 the Jedi Master! Sorry, but I wanted to do my romance with MY character!**

**ET: What-ever!**

**Me: Hey, shut up! What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be typing YOUR story?! I want you to post it, or I'll write it for you!**

**ET: You're annoying.**

**Me: I'm your little sister. I'm SUPPOSED to be annoying.**

**Nari: Run, Andrew!**

**Andrew: Right behind ya!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Me: Yay! Another chapter!**

**Nari: Big whoop.**

**Andrew: Yeah. Well, let's get this party started! Did you bring us back or not?**

**Nari: Yeah!**

**Me: Maybe...maybe not.**

**Nari: Grr...Sylphy owns nothing.**

**Me: I gotta get a new nickname.**

Chapter 11: Welcome Back...

Lloyd slowly opened his eyes.

He saw a purple sky.

And his breath wouldn't come.

"LLOYD IRVING AURION, GET YOUR BUTT UP BEFORE I BURN YOU WITH MY MAGIC LIKE SCARLETT DOES!!!" Nari's voice roared.

Lloyd flew up, and clunked heads with Colette. He dramatically fell back in pain, as Colette shook it off, wincing a little. "Lloyd...are you okay?" came her gentle voice.

"My heads hurts...and my hand burns...otherwise, I feel like a million bucks. How'd I do? Are we on Derris-Kharlan?" Lloyd sat up again, more slowly this time.

"Nope!" she chirped, "We're near Heimdall, except...two things are wrong."

"What?"

Raine muttered a lot of words only the four thousand year old angels understood, as did Genis. Then, she said, "Heimdall is no more, and based on the gravitation, and the shift of Mana that we just brought, umm...Derris-Kharlan is next to Symphonia...again."

"WHAT?!" Lloyd bursted, standing (being careful not to knock Colette down), looking up at the purple sky again. "Dammit...hey, where're the survivors?"

Kratos answered, "I spoke with Origin. They are under care of angels, and he explained everything to them, so they are in Derris-Kharlan."

"That's not cool." Anna frowned at Derris-Kharlan's subject.

Mithos sighed, "Why did this happen?"

"It's all your fault." Zelos said, a bored tone in his voice.

Mithos blasted him with a ball of Mana as Genis corrected, "It was YGGDRASILL'S fault. Not Mithos's."

"Owowowow! Ppppaaaiinnn..." Zelos sniffled.

"Well...can we change back to our regular clothes, at least, now that we're not on Earth?" Athena shifted.

"I guess so." Yuka shrugged.

Everyone ran off to change. (somehow, they managed to fit everything back in a bag)

A few minutes later, they came back, sighing happily to be out of weird clothes. (except Yuka, who didn't really care)

"Okay...so how are we gonna get in Theron's place to rescue Scarlett without getting killed?" came Noishe's voice.

"I will cut down anyone in my way." growled Yuan.

"Yeah, sure, like we're gonna leave you to it." Nari rolled her eyes.

Andrew asked, "And YOU know your way around?"

"Yep."

"Crud."

"You tryin' to tell me somethin'?"

"No..."

"Come ON!" Raine barked, "Stop arguing!"

"Yeah, let's get a move on." Sheena nodded.

Without any further argument, they pursued towards Theron's layer. They were close to Shadow's temple, but they were stopped quickly by Nari. "Wait a minute..." she muttered, and looked around.

"What is it?" asked Renne.

"There was another way through...I remember it. It was right over..." Nari pulled her wings out, ignored Andrew's remark of, 'show off...', and flew up to the cliff above them, kicking at the wall. A thud was heard, and the part of the wall caved inward. "Here it is! It's much faster than that old elevator. It leads right to the prison, too!"

The others instantly brought their wings and Rheairds, and flew up to Nari, who smirked and pointed, "C'mon, follow me."

They entered the void of darkness, Nari warning, "Don't bring out the blue candle. It'll make it too bright."

They nodded, and continued following her. She led them tunnel through tunnel, and Genis sighed, "Are you not getting us more lost?"

"Shut up. There's gonna be some guards up ahead that guard the prison, so have your weapons ready, cause we're gonna drop right on top of them. No, literally." Nari bit back. The group drew their weapons quietly, and a small beam of light was ahead at the end of the tunnel. (no, they're not dead!)

Nari went first. She looked down, and saw five guards. No problem. She smirked, and gestured for them to wait where they were. She crawled over through another tunnel, seeing the group from across the room. She chuckled and said quietly, "You must leave."

The guards jumped, drew lances, and demanded, "Who's there?!"

"The Goddess of Death!" Nari roared.

The group had to restrain from laughing, and Nari said again, "Leave before I kill you!"

"Show yourself!"

"As you wish."

The group and Nari jumped down, slashing at them, easily beating them since they had their guard down. Andrew and Nari gave high-fives, "That was great!" laughed Mithos.

She grinned at them, and motioned, "This way."

A loud screech rang throughout the tunnels, hurting the ears of the group. Yuan hissed, "He's gonna pay for this." and he ran forward, his weapon drawn and raised.

"Yuan, wait!" Nari slapped her whip around his wrist, halting him.

"Nari, let me go!"

"Idiot! If you go down there now, and Theron is there, he's sure to kill you without even trying!"

"If Theron is down there? What about me?" a voice came from behind.

The group turned around, and two hazel eyes looked back at them. The boy spoke again, "Yuka? You don't recognize me?" and he stepped in the light.

Yuka held her breath, "...Xylon?"

---

Scarlett screeched again, "Theron, let me go!"

No respond came, for Theron was not around. He wasn't anywhere near the prison.

"Please...help me...I can't breathe...YUAN! YUAN, HELP ME!"

---

Yuan heard his name called, but Nari's whip was still around his wrist. Yuka's eyes had gone wide with horror, and she stared at her old friend, her new enemy, who was supposed to be dead.

"Xylon?...How-"

"Surprised, huh? Well, I obviously failed to kill Scarlett. Shame, really. Master Theron revived me. That's how powerful he is. Not even you angels could withstand him." Xylon laughed.

"You! You're the one that nearly killed me daughter!" Kratos bellowed.

"Yeah, well...what's a guy to do?" Xylon pulled out his jade green wings, lighting the area. "Think you can take me?"

Yuan struggled against Nari's whip, wishing he could take this oppertunity to escape and get to Scarlett. He tugged the rope, and Nari looked at him. He nodded at Xylon, then behind him towards where Scarlett was. Nari understood, and brought her whip down, freeing Yuan. He silently slipped away, and when he was out of sight, Nari stepped forward, hissing, "You're gonna pay for what you did to me, Xylon."

Xylon studied her face, "Oh, Nari. I'm hurt. I thought I treated you with kindness."

"You tortured me!"

Andrew stepped in front of her in protection, a katana in his hand. "You won't touch her."

"Really? I beg to differ. She knows too much." Xylon held in his hand what looked to be an arrow, but he swung it, and it turned to a broad sword.

Everyone prepared their weapons, the parents commanding their children to get out of there. The teens protested, but at Kratos's evil voice, they ran after Yuan. (they knew he got away)

"This may be fun." Xylon chuckled, running towards them.

---

Scarlett was panting for breath, but released another fire ball, which faded once it touched the bars. That was the last of her Mana. She collasped to the floor, but heard footsteps. She instantly snapped, "Theron, let me out of here!"

"No, easy, Scarlett...it's me."

"Yu...Yuan?"

"Yeah."

Scarlett brought her head up, and she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Be careful..." she warned, "the bars are some type of magic. Another type of magic won't work."

More footsteps were heard, and the children came in sight. Renne caught her breath, "Mom! Are you okay?"

"When I get outta here."

"Which will be soon." Yuan looked at the bars, then twinged with pain.

Yuka.

Xylon had done something to her.

He had to work quickly.

He tapped the bars, which shocked him. He jolted with pain, and reeled back. He drew his weapon, and slashed at the bars, nothing happening. He growled, and sent a ball of electricity at it. It rebounded, and he moved out of the way.

"Then what will work?" he growled.

"I...I don't know..."

"Let me try, Dad." Athena brought her scythe out, and she swung it, _"Moonburst!"_

The eletricity faded.

Rylan sweatdropped, "Wow. Athena's better than you, Dad."

Yuan looked at him, then touched the cage again.

Nothing.

He looked at the lock, and shrugged, punching it, making it fall apart. He opened the door, and picked the Pheonix up. The second she left the cage, sparks of flames (that didn't burn them) flew around, and the Pheonix faded, Scarlett in Yuan's arms, her hair a little more red than it used to be, but was still noticably auburn. "Yuan!" she hugged him after he let some Mana into her.

"C'mon." He set her down, "We have to help the others."

"What's up?"

"Xylon's back."

"He's the one that killed me on Earth. I'm glad you got here in time. Any longer, and I'd have..." she trailed off.

"C'mon, no mushy stuff!" Zeki sighed, drawing Blue Storm.

Scarlett looked at the katana. "I see you found Blue Storm."

"Fill you in later. Come on! Let's kick some butt!"

**Me: I wonder if anyone can guess why Zeki had to get Blue Storm.**

**Nari: You haven't given enough details!**

**Me Yeah, I have. All back in chapter 26 of Frozen time.**

**Andrew: Hey, tell me.**

**Me: **_**"Building. Death. No emotion. Torture." "Children. Bait. Black Wings. Mask. Mizuho. Earth." "Athena. Renne. Rylan. Tortured. Screams. Summon Spirits." "Surrounded. Knights of the dark. Dragons. Monsters. Demons." "I see your future, young one." **_**and Scarlett looked down at Zeki, **_**"Pain. Suffering. Separation of and from family. Clouded. Blank. Strange. Hard attempts of rescue. Sweat. Death. Prevent this." "Prevent it. Find the Blue Storm. In the eyes, you shall find your destiny, written."**_

**Nari: Whoa. Hey, I know! Zeki-**

**Me: SHUT UP! READ AND REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Me: Okay, this chapter, unless I get another one up, will have to last you until the end of June, because I'm goin' on vacation...to Texas. Yippie.**

**Nari: We'll be free until then!**

**ToS group: YES! REGAL, YOU'RE GETTING US TO ALTIMIRA!**

**Regal: Well, duh.**

**Genis: Regal said something that wasn't uptight! Ohmegosh!**

**Presea: Please stop, Genis.**

**Genis: Yes, ma'am.**

**Presea: Thank you. SylphWindDancer owns nothing.**

Chapter 12: Fight to the Very End...

Scarlett, Yuan, Zeki, Athena, Renne, and Rylan all ran back down the tunnel, then heard a scream of pain, followed by a loud crash. The kids let a yelp of surprise as Nari was now in front of them after being sent flying through the wall. Her back slammed into the stone, she groaned, and grasped her whip, not noticing the other's prescence. Her cracked her whip, chanting something quietly, then bellowed, _"Heaven's Rescue!" _and white lights engulfed the group, healing them. She stood, and saw the others, "Heh, uh, Xylon's kinda letting us have it."

Andrew ran up, and put his hands on her shoulders, "Are you alright, Nari?!"

"I'm fine." Nari took a weak step forward, "Just catchin' my breath."

_"Charge!" _Raine cast, the green light landing in Nari's body.

"Thanks." Nari gestured, "C'mon, we may be able to beat him with _Judgment."_

The angels nodded, and walked in the room, when Scarlett looked back at Renne. "I know you have wings, too, sweetie."

Renne looked at her brother, who nodded, "She found out about me, too. I don't know how she does it."

Renne shook her head, and a pair of ice blue wings burst from her shoulderblades. All the other angels brought out their wings as the others distracted Xylon. Mixtures of _Judgment _spell words were being spoken all at once.

_"Sacred powers, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls, rest in peace, sinners..." _Kratos.

_"Oh, holy one, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls..." _Colette.

_"Holy ones of above, shine down from the heavens to strike the lost and corrupt souls before you, blame your fate..." _Scarlett.

_"Light of the heavens, show thy true strength and show it to the lost and corrupt souls in front of you..." _Celeste.

_"Sacred powers, shine your purifying light on these corrupt souls..." _Yuan.

_"Holy ones, unleash your fury upon these souls..." _Yuka.

_"Ready for this?..." _Zelos.

_"Goddesses and Gods above, rain down upon these souls now..." _Renne.

_"Heaven and Hell shall show thoust justice as they bring down their anger..." _Rylan.

_"Prepare yourself..." _Mithos.

_"Bring down the anger of light and shadow, purifying these souls before you..." _and Nari.

_**"Judgment!"**_

The battlefield turned into a _Judgment _field. Xylon screamed in pain as the rays of light struck through him. When it faded, he was on his knees, gasping for breath. His wings faded, then he looked up at them, "Trust me...this isn't the end of it...my **dear old **_**friends."**_ and he vanished.

Yuka shuddered, and saw the others. "I see you saved her."

Scarlett nodded, "It appears I have some catching up to do," and she motioned at Andrew, "like, who's he?"

"My boyfriend." Nari grinned sheepishly, linking arms with him.

Andrew laughed nervously, and nodded in agreement, "I'm Andrew Fujibayashi."

Sheena gasped, "You have the same last name as me?!"

Andrew blinked, "Umm...long story. It's all about the authoress's sister's story: The Order of the Elements. If you read that, readers, you will understand!"

Sheena frowned, and scowled at him.

Anyway...

"We should hurry up and get outta here." Noishe pointed out, "Unless we want to be ambushed by some unwanted guests."

"True enough."

The group began running, barely able to escape guards around corners. Just around one, Lloyd's streamers were grabbed by Kratos, who told him to wait. Glad he did that, Lloyd tuned his senses and they heard the half-elven guards around the corner saying, "...Master Theron's gonna get 'em back, eh?"

"Shh! If he heard you say that, he'd murder you and just get a replacement!" a man hissed.

A woman droaned, "Hey...what all places are left?"

One man said back, "I'm not sure. I think it's just Mizuho and Iselia It's only because they're continually moving while we got the chief with that group."

The woman sighed, "Oh. It's kinda sad, but he DID say he rebuild the world so everyone's accepted. Even elves people like himself. Hey, did you hear that he's lookin' to marry that Phoenix?"

"That Scarlett girl? Yeah."

Yuan's arms wrapped around his wife tightly.

"But then again..." the man continued, "I also heard he needs Nari for something."

"That poor girl. She's been in here for so long. She escaped, though."

"But he has a plan to get her back. He needs her and Athena and Scarlett for unlocking the rest of the Black Magic."

"No way! Really?"

The three mentioned held their breath, and clung to the nearest person for comfort, not wanting anything to do with negative magic.

"Really, really."

"I get shivers just thinkin' about that kinda magic..."

"Yeah, it's the source of all darkness. It's born from cruelty and fear, along with deception and trickery. Theft, poverty...you name it if it's not positive." the other man shuddered.

"Ya know...the group that guards the prison hasn't come back yet."

"Hmm...well, it's my turn to report to him. Be right back."

The woman walked down the hall opposite of the group. They let a quiet sigh of relief. Colette peered over to where the two men remaining were.

Good.

They were alone.

She grasped her chakrams, and with Celeste's help, leapt forward, and quickly fell the two. Nari looked around their surroundings, not sure of something. "Well?" urged Zeki, "Where next?"

"Uhh..." Nari looked back and forth, between the tunnels, "Wait a minute..."

"Don't tell me you're lost." Lloyd groaned.

"No...but...this part isn't new, nor has it been here like this before. Theron is toying with us." Nari hissed.

"Dang! Are you serious?" gaped Zelos, "That bastard!"

Sheena put a hand on his shoulder, "What are we gonna do, then?"

"We have to find..." Nari stepped forward, looking up towards the walls, "There it is!"

The others looked up and saw the tiny black camera. Anna frowned, "He better be watching this."

Nari roared, not caring if guards were nearby. They were to easy to beat, anyway, "Theron Tobias! Let us go! You have no right to play around with people's minds like this! Not everyone needs to capture people for entertainment around here!"

----

Theron laughed, "They have no idea who they're dealing with." as he healed Xylon next to him. He pressed a button with his free hand, his voice echoing through the halls of stone and rock, "Well? You think you can challange me? Yeah, right, great idea! If you think you can escape, go right ahead, although I will be haunting your every movement!"

----

They listened to Theron's voice, and Nari looked around, noticing that the halls were back to normal. She sighed with relief, and led them through. Genis snapped at the camera, "You're gonna regret you ever did this." and ran with the others.

After a half hour of wandering around, they finally found the exit through the elevator. Presea happily pressed the button, and they stuffed inside, letting the elevator take them up into the light world once more.

They emerged from Shadow's layer, and they sheilded their eyes from the Sun. Regal commented, "It sure is extremely bright after being in that darkness for a long time."

"You got that right." Noishe groaned.

"Well, where should we go next? I think we may need to train before battling Theron." Scarlett pointed out.

"Maybe..." Nari droaned, "Palmacosta? My family's there."

"Palmacosta? It was...destroyed." Celeste sadly reported.

"What?!" Nari bellowed, "Is that true?"

"Yes." Zeki nodded as Andrew bit his bottom lip.

Nari brought forth her wings, and, without warning, flew towards where Palmacosta once stood. The others stuttered, then quickly followed after her. An hour later, Nari landed, a giant rubble city at her feet. "No...no...it...it can't be...it's just a dream." and she kicked a piece of rubber.

The others landed right behind her, and Andrew ran up, "Nari?...Are you okay?"

Tears flew from Nari's eyes, and she wrapped herself around Andrew, trying to stay strong, "Please...please say it isn't true! My big brother...my mom...and my dad..."

Andrew embraced her, rubbing her head, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Nari."

They stood there for a while, letting Nari let her emotions out, since she'd had to hold them in for so long. Once she'd finished, she chuckled quietly, "Sorry...I probably look like a crybaby, don't I?"

Colette shook her head, "No, Nari. It's only natural that you feel this way. I'd feel like crap-"

Lloyd's eyes went wide.

"-if Iselia was destroyed like this."

Nari nodded, allowing Andrew to wipe away some of her remaining tears.

"How about Mizuho? If your family survived, then we'd know it." Sheena suggested.

"O...okay. Let's go."

With heavy hearts, they followed Sheena and Zelos, flying towards the newly relocated Mizuho. They flew into the Lathian Gorge, and flew past the story teller's house, deep inside. They came upon a gate, and Sheena murmured something into a device, and the gate unlocked. They flew inside (all on Rheairds) and landed. Orochi approached first, "Chief Sheena, Zelos! Thank the Summon Spirits you're here now! We've heard rumors of an attack!"

"Yes, we have, too. First, Orochi-"

"We also found three people running around in the gorge, being chased by monsters."

"What?! What did they look like?" Nari suddenly bursted.

"Come...I will show you to them." Orochi showed them to a house, a few ninja standing outside. They murmured something as they walked past them, and the group entered the house. From the back of the group, Yuan and Kratos heard Nari cry, "Ryan! Mom, Dad!"

"Nari!" three people cried out at once.

They entered, and saw Nari hugging a boy of around Lloyd's tall height, with Nari's ruby colored eyes, but with dark red hair. Her mother had light brown eyes and dark brown hair with blonde mixed in, and her father had black hair with blue eyes.

Ryan embraced Nari tightly, "Sis! I thought we'd lost you forever. When Andrew came and told us you weren't in Luin..."

"It's all right...I was just..."

Nari quickly explained everything in eleven breaths or less.

"Whoa. That's freaky." Ryan blinked.

"Okay..." Nari's mother, Jessica, sighed, "Say it again, SLOWLY this time."

**Me: Okay, this is the end of chapter 12...Right?**

**Andrew: Umm...yeah.**

**Me: I think I need to replace chapter 10...since I changed 'Nathan's' name...**

**Nari: Good. Be a good little authoress and do that now.**

**EGP: Hi, Sylphy!**

**Me: Nooo!**

**ET: Sylphy? I like that.**

**Me: Nooooooo!!!!**

**EGP: Oh, by the way, HOW CAN YOU ABANDON INUYASHA?!?!**

**Me: Don't make me say it, muf-**

**EGP: I'M SORRY! (runs back to Inuyasha, which I don't own)**

**Me: Good.**

**ET: I'm still here.**

**Me: Get out.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Me: Hiya! I regret to tell you this, but you will have to wait two weeks before I can get another chapter posted up.**

**Nari: Her family is going to Texas, but maybe she can get some writing done on the airplane.**

**Me: Sounds good. I'm sorry, readers!**

**Andrew: SylphWindDancer owns nothing.**

Chapter 13: Family Reunion...

Nari explained everything to her parents and brother, then introduced everyone to each other. Once that was all completed, Jessica, Ryan, and Tomad, Nari's dad, shared their story.

Tomad frowned, "After Andrew returned, announcing that Nari wasn't in Luin, we had set out to look for her. We looked over the continent, but did not find her. We returned to Palmacosta right before it was attacked by Undead. We, and two others, were the only survivors.

"The Undead had been walking through the city, kicking at dead bodies. When they were all occupied, we took our chance, and slipped away into the water. We swam to Thoda Gyser (which was only about five minutes when the worlds were combinded), and hid there until they came there, too."

Jessica sighed, continuing, "Hoping they were all at Thoda and not Palmacosta, we swam off again, and made land, but a select few found us and chased us all the way to the gorge. Then, they attacked us, but..." she trailed off.

Ryan gritted his teeth, "I managed to take most of the blows."

Nari jumped up, "Where at?!"

"My stomach and side."

"Show me!"

Cowering before his sister's anger and concern, he removed his shirt, which revealed numerous scars and cuts that were wrapped. He finished off, "Then, they knocked us downward, but we landed in the river, where Orochi found us."

Nari examined his scars and cuts along with Raine. Raine murmured some stuff, and requested, "May I try this one? I've practiced it."

Nari looked at Raine, then her brother, and twitched, "Just...just don't turn him into something else."

Raine held her staff before her, telling Ryan to relax. She quietly spoke some words, then bellowed, _"Helois!"_

A silver light glowed from Ryan's wounds, and they sealed up, not leaving even a scratch. Ryan sighed with relief...until Raine squealed: "I DID IT! I DID THE LEGENDARY HELOIS ON RYAN! I DID IT! YES! NOW, I SHALL CONTINUE! NARI!!"

Nari groaned, and smacked her face, "What?"

"I hope there are more spells you intend to teach me. I am older than you, and deserve some respect."

"Correction: I am older than YOU."

"Then how are they alive?" Raine pointed at her parents and brother.

"Umm...a-"

Tomad interrupted, "A spell. We couldn't live without her, and she feels the same."

Ryan shook his head, "Not me." and dark green wings gently came forth from his back. "I didn't need the spell."

"Incredible!" Raine's eyes twinkled, "Was this a spell or Cruxis Crystal?! Or was it magitechnology?! Which was iiittttt?!?!?!?!"

"Raine..." Kratos sighed.

"Yes?"

Yuan hissed, "Shut up."

Raine pouted, and sat in a corner.

"Anyway..." Zelos looked at everyone, "I'm sorry to break up this little happy reunion, but we have come here for a reason."

Sheena nodded, and the husband and wife walked off.

Nari nodded, "Yeah, bro. We're here to train some. You need to be re-educated."

Ryan sarcasticly held his heart, "Me? Need of training? Absolutly!"

"Thought so."

So, after a short mini argument, the siblings ran off, catching up with the group in a circular training courtyard.

They all made different teams to spar with, each having at least three people in it.

"Let's get this over with." sighed Genis, beginning the painful training session.

-----

Theron stood in his room, Xylon bowing before him. Theron hissed, "I thought I told you to kill them. What do you bring me?...Nothing."

"A million pardons, Master." Xylon begged.

"I will have to retrain you. It seems Mizuho has changed their location once more. However...they cannot run forever. I will trap them against the sea, where they will have no choice but to obey me. Then...I can get Jane back."

"Umm...Master...may I say something?"

"What?"

"Jane...she died hundreds of years ago. Scarlett only is her reincarnation. That is why you think Scarlett is Jane. And Yuka is to be the sacrificial lamb."

Theron stood, stomping off towards his shelf with odd books and scattered papers. He bit out, "Leave me."

"Yes, sir." Xylon stood, bowed low, and swiftly left.

Theron heard the door shut, and he sighed in frustration. "This is only the beginning, my dear servant."

He then picked up a picture of Celeste in her wedding dress: a light red color with sparkling glitter on the bottom, and she held white roses. His head throbbed in pain. He put the picture back on the shelf quickly.

_"Tobias...please stop it."_

"Get outta here. I'm gonna do this no matter what."

_"Leave my wife and Zeki alone!"_

"Never."

-----

"That's it. I'm done." Ryan dramatically fell backwards in exhaustion.

"Me too." Yuka sat.

"Me three." Lloyd instantly leaned against a tree.

"How about we all take a little break?" Colette suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Follow me and we'll get something to drink." Zelos gestured, and they all trailed, eager for liquid.

They all got drinks, and the two ninja showed the group where all they'd be staying for the time they remained at Mizuho. They all retreated to their rooms once it got dark outside, turning in for the night.

Celeste stood when she was sure everyone was asleep, and creeped outside. She inhaled the chilly air, feeling quite comfortable. "Theron...please defeat Tobias...I know you can." she whispered to the wind.

"Celeste..."

Celeste snapped her head behind her, seeing Theron standing there.

"I'm so sorry...I'm trying. I really am. Your wedding picture is the only thing that's saving me."

"Tobias can die at the hands of us."

"If I have to, I'll kill myself to keep you and Zeki safe."

"Don't...please, don't do that!"

Theron wrapped Celeste in a tight hug, in which she returned it. "I'll find some way to help you, Theron." Celeste promised.

"I know you will. Be safe...my little pegasus."

Celeste opened her closed eyes and Theron was gone. She felt some stray tears falling from her eyes. "I love you, Theron."

-----

Theron punched the mountain, throwing plants, yelling aloud, "WHY?! WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME LIKE THIS?! YOU HAVE A LIVING WIFE, AND A CARING SON! WHY?!"

_"Because you need to wake up to reality!"_

"Oh, yeah? Well then...I have a new plan. One that I think might work pretty nicely."

_"No! Stay away from them!"_

-----

Zeki heard his mother come back in, and he sat up sleepily, "Mom?...What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

"I've been up for a while, but still can't sleep."

"Go for a short walk. Don't go to far, though. We don't know if Theron's near or not."

Zeki nodded, and threw his covers off.

He walked out, and sat right off the edge of a cliff. He looked at the full moon, thinking of how beautiful it looked. "Dad...Theron's my father...but...I don't know right now what to believe..."

"Hey there, kid."

Zeki flew up, Theron surprising him, as well.

"D...Dad?"

"Yeah. It's me, son."

_"Leave him alone, Tobias!"_

"Why're you here? If anyone sees you, they'll attack."

"No, they won't...I'm not Tobias...I'm Theron. Your father."

Zeki listened to his voice, but then looked at his eyes. Then his hair.

"You're not my father! You ARE Tobias!"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want it to come to this."

Theron ran forward, his scythe in hand, and he hit Zeki over the head with the grip before the teen could react. Zeki fell to the ground, knocked out cold. Theron lifted him, ignoring the screaming Theron Tobias in his head.

-----

Celeste burst into Scarlett, Yuan, Athena, Rylan, and Renne's room, crying, "Where's Zeki?! I haven't seen him since last night!"

Scarlett sleepily answered, "I haven't seen him. You sure he isn't raiding the fridge?"

"Yes, I've looked there, and everywhere! He asked if he could go for a walk last night, and I told him not to go too far! I feel asleep after he left by accident!" Celeste panicked.

"Did you see anyone last night?" Yuan asked, getting up and dressing.

"...Yeah. Theron came by. Not Tobias, but Theron." Celeste guiltily replied.

Scarlett got in her sister's face, "You let your son, my nephew out whenever Tobias could've come out at any minute?! Why did you!-"

Celeste was puzzled when Scarlett suddenly halted in her words, her eyes silver. Yuan saw Celeste's expression, then looked at his wife. "Vision." he sighed.

But then, even he was surprised when Scarlett's body suddenly collasped. He managed to catch her, and their children rushed over, asking what was wrong.

-----

Oi...this sucks. Another vision where I'm astral. I wish I could get a warning for this. Well, might as well make the better of it. Lesse...I was in Theron's lair, I'm guessing. It's all dark, but...there's a faint light ahead. Coming from the bottom of a door. I stopped in front of the door, and peered toward the ground, and I felt my breath leave my body.

Blue Storm.

No! I warned Zeki to keep it with him at all times! Otherwise...

I rushed through the door, my body going straight through. I saw Zeki struggling to get out of a small cage, and Theron is sleeping like the lazy butthole he is in his chair. I heard myself call, "Zeki! Don't worry! We're gonna come rescue you!"

"Theron, lemme go!" Zeki demanded.

"Nnn? Kid, I was sleepin'. How dare you wake me up like that. Are you ready to change your mind?"

"No! I'll never join you!"

"Oh, yeah? You don't have the Blue Storm. There's no magic around that can protect you."

"Theron! Don't touch him!" I hissed, reflexivly jumping in front of Zeki.

I felt Theron look _right at _me, and I froze.

"Jane?"

Oh, crap.

"No, idiot! I'm Scarlett, and you better leave my nephew alone!"

"Jane."

"Dammit, don't you listen?!"

"Jane, what's the matter?"

"I'M SCARLETT, FOOL!!!"

Theron's eyes seemed to flash, and he then said, "Scarlett? My, my, what a surprise. Come with me."

"I'm astral - you can't do anything to me."

"I can trap your soul."

"Wh...what?"

"Come now...easily."

"Don't touch me!"

"Wrong choice."

"NOOO!"

**Me: That's the end of chapter 13. **

**Nari: What did you do to Scarlett? And how can Theron trap her soul?**

**Andrew: I bet she's gonna say: 'wait until the next chapter to find out.'**

**Me: No, I'll tell you now.**

**Nari: Really?!**

**Me: Sure. -------- -- ----- ---- -- ---- --- ----'-- ----- --- --- ------ ---.**

**Andrew: Very funny. Read and review.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Me: Well, I didn't end up going to Texas. Couldn't get on a stupid plane...had a heart attack because the airport llost our luggage, but then we got it back...now I'm going camping. Yay!**

**Nari: Oh, well. Altimira, here we come!**

**Andrew: Oh, YEAH!**

**Nari: Anyway, SylphWindDancer owns nothing.**

Chapter 14: Rescue Mission...

"I'm worried, now. Scarlett's soul is wandering, and hasn't been back for over two hours now." Yuan looked at his wife with worry.

All the other adults stood quietly in the room, after they'd sent the teens out. Mithos frowned, "Theron couldn't have done anything...could he've?"

Noishe shrugged, "It may be possible."

"But HOW is the question..." Sheena cocked her head.

Celeste hissed, "I know it's Theron. He's got Zeki, too. He's more powerful than Yggdrasill was. More powerful than Mithos. More powerful than all of us. Who knows what he could've done to her spirit. The only thing we can do is go back to his place, and bring Scarlett's body. Otherwise..." she trailed off.

Colette gravely finished, "She could die. Zeki, too."

"Well, let's not stay here much longer. On to Theron's!" Lloyd declared.

"...After we get suppiles." Anna dumbly reminded.

"Oh, yeah..." Lloyd rubbed the back of his head.

-----

"You can't keep me here forever, stupid!" Zeki barked.

"On the contrary...I can keep you here as long as I like. Don't think I don't remember what Scarlett said that night in the woods. I know of her little 'prophecy'. Trust me." Theron sneered.

Scarlett's soul was laying on the ground, attempting to get up, but on her wrists were strange bracelets that shocked her, sending electricitry throughout her 'body'. She growled, "Theron, you know deep inside that this is wrong!"

Zeki had then just spotted her outline on the floor after hearing her voice, "Aunt Scarlett?..."

"Yes, kid." Theron rolled his eyes, "Your aunt isn't all-powerful know, is she? But...if your refuse to join me, I can shock you just as I can her."

He snapped his fingers, and Scarlett was shocked harder, sending her screams through the halls. Zeki winced. What should he do? He couldn't just join him, and betray his family, cousins, friends. Theron shocked her again. Zeki bit his lip, and narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Time's running out, kid." Theron warned. "I will tell you now, if you join me, I'll let Scarlett's soul go."

Zeki looked up, "Really? You'll let her go and leave everyone alone?"

"Ze...Zeki! Don't believe him! He needs me to be sacrificed to supposidly bring Jane back!" Scarlett yelled desperatly, "Yuan and the others are coming, I know it!"

"Silence, angel!" Theron shocked her, causing her to scream once more.

Zeki snapped, "STOP IT!"

"Well? What is your answer?" Theron droaned.

"I...I..."

-----

"You want me to WHAT?!" Yuka screeched.

Yuan had taken Yuka into another room right before they were ready to leave. Let's go see what they're talking about, huh?

"I need you to stay behind."

Great. Another Lloyd and Colette.

"WHAT?!"

"Think about it. Theron needs Scarlett and you to be sacrificed. That's why you were sent to Earth, remember?! I don't want to put you in danger!"

"I am NOT staying!"

"But-"

"If I'm nearby, you'd be able to actually protect me! YOU think about it!"

Lloyd twitched outside, "Well...at least Colette didn't do that."

"I did, though. I spoke in her place." Zelos grinned sheepishly.

"I didn't what, Lloyd?" Colette came up, carrying some supplies.

"Nothing, angel."

"Oh, okay."

So...Yuan finally gave in and hissed firmly, "If there is ANY sign that Theron's about to get you, I'm getting you out of there. Scarlett, too."

"Fine. Now let's go." Yuka nodded.

The group all got ready, and brought out their wings and Rheairds. Just as they were leaving, Ryan ran up to Nari and stated, "I'm coming, too."

"What?" Nari raised an eyebrow, slowly lifting off the ground.

Ryan brought out his wings, and fluttered up, "I'm coming. I'm sick of sitting around here and doing nothing while this evil dude's trying to take over the world!"

"I don't mind. As long as you're careful." Nari blinked.

"Take your own advice."

"Don't make me-"

"NARI! COME ON, OR WE'RE GONNA LEAVE YOU!" Genis called.

Noishe ran past them, and took off on his Rheairds, "Ya'll are slower than Gnome trying to fly." he taunted.

"I'm gonna get you, Noishe!" Nari flew after him, catching up, and slapping him, causing him to reel in pain.

They flew as fast as they could, Yuan carrying Scarlett's body with him as they entered the Temple of Darkness from the back, where Nari had shown them. Yuan grumbled, trying to crawl through the holes, "This is tricky. I wish something hadn't have happened..."

"Don't we all?" Kratos sarcastically remarked.

Lloyd gaped and stared at his dad. Sarcasim? Wow, maybe he was finally lightening up. Yeah right, he scoffed.

They had to take a few extra minutes to bring Scarlett's body through the tunnel safely. Then, they peered out through the ends of the tunnels, and no one was around. Nari guessed that they were all on a break in a large room near the deepest area. They should be safe...for a little while.

Yuan placed her body on his back, then ran with the others before hearing two seperate voices screaming. Both were familiar. They ran in the direction the screams were coming from, reaching a tunnel with a three way split. All the heads turned to Nari.

She sweatdropped, "Hey...this part looks new."

The others grumbled and shook their heads. Andrew suggested, "Try the Mana. Maybe we can find a trail."

They did so, focusing and concentrating hard. Athena chirped, "I feel it strongest coming from the right."

"Me too." Renne nodded.

"And me." Rylan agreed.

"Me as well." Mithos pointed, "Right, then."

"Let's go." Yuka walked towards the entrance, but was met with fire blasting out of the tunnel. She managed to summon her wings and jump out of the way in time. She cursed, for parts of the side of her clothes got scraped by the flames.

Then, they were met with someone they didn't quite expect.

Sheena held her breath, "Scarlett?"

The floating soul was crying, tears flying, the bracelets around her wrists. She cried, "Guys, break the bracelets, then I can get back to my body!"

Presea frowned, "Why are you doing this?"

Theron came up behind him, holding Zeki by the collar of his shirt. He was knocked out, and some noticable scraps were on her arms. Celeste had gasped loudly with horror, and Kratos hissed, "Theron. Let. Them. Go." in his if-you-don't-I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass tone of voice.

"What if I don't?" Theron challanged.

Genis bravely stated, "We may be individually weaker than you, but with all of our strength combind, we can kill you easily."

"Is that so? Well, I have your precious Scarlett and Zeki. If you kill me, who can give you the spell to brake the bond I have over her. If you kill me, I can swiftly get at this boy, too." Theron raised Zeki.

At that moment, the teen began to stir. He slowly opened his eyes, and realized what was going on, "Mom! The key for Scarlett is in his side pocket of his jeans!"

Celeste nodded, and spotted it.

Theron drew his scythe, "You would challange me? I am death itself."

Athena growled, "You're a disgrace to scythe-users. Shinigami(death spirits) may use scythes, but we represent life! Idiot."

"What did you call me?"

"An. Idiot." Athena slowly said, "Geez, are you retarded, too?"

Theron threw Zeki into the back to the wall, and dashed at the purplehead. She evaded easily, and drew her scythe. The others drew their weapons, but she firmly commanded, "No. This one's mine."

"Are you kiddin' me?!" Zelos frowned, "He'd kill you!"

"No, he wouldn't."

Celeste understood the firmness in her voice, and ran behind them, running for Zeki. But, she looked at her sister, who grimly informed, "He said he'd kill Zeki if I didn't help him."

"Well...when you put it like that, I'm glad you didn't." Celeste grinned. She kneeled by Zeki, and felt his pulse. He'd be fine. It was strong.

Kratos came over and healed his grandson quickly. Zeki opened his eyes and saw Celeste hugging him. He gasped, "Mom...you're killing me...can't breathe..."

Celeste let go of him, and looked him in the eye, "Zeki, did you find out anything? Did he hurt you? What did he do to Scarlett?"

"Mom, you're being to motherly." Zeki smirked, then saw Athena fighting Theron behind her. His eyes went wide, "Why is Athena fighting him?! He'll kill her!"

Zelos came over with Sheena, "That's what I said."

Celeste looked at them in thought, "I just...have this feeling that there's more to her than meets the eye. I mean, aside from the whole already being an Aurion thing."

Anna scoffed, "You're just now figuring that out?"

Her daughter stared at her in a do-I-look-that-stupid look.

Anna rolled her eyes, "Never mind."

"I will."

Meanwhile, Athena and Theron were in a evenly matched battle...which was very surprising. Athena swung her scythe and bellowed, _"Heaven's Breath!" _striking Theron critically. He reeled over in pain, and growled, "Who...who are you?"

Athena lowered her scythe from the final blow, and shook her head, "I am a normal twelve year old half-elf."

She turned her back. That was a mistake. Theron managed to bring his scythe up and slash Athena down her back. She turned, not even screaming. "What...was that?"

Everyone was staring unbelievably by then.

Yuan was the first to recover. He raised his weapon, and brought it down to Theron, but he teleported by then. Yuan cursed, then turned to his adopted daughter. "Athena..."

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but I knew you'd find out eventually." Athena smiled weakly. Gray wings came from her back. "I am Spiritua...reincarnated."

**Nari and Andrew: WHAT?!**

**Me: Umm...I have no comment?**

**Nari: YOU BETTER HAVE A FREAKIN' COMMENT!**

**Me: I do actually. Read and review.**

**Andrew: A BETTER ONE THAN THAT!**

**Me: No comment.**

**Nari: CURSE YOU!**

**Andrew: But isn't Spiritua evil?**

**Me: Not in this story. -Maybe.**

**Nari: You suck, Sylphy.**

**Me: HEY! I'M-**

**Andrew: Oh, go camping already.**


End file.
